So did the Uptown Razor Boys, I said. And look what happened to them.
Hollis just smiled his easy smile. Got to say, I m just a bit surprised to see you here, Eddie Drood. Little bird told me you and all your family were dead and gone.
Rumours of our destruction have been greatly exaggerated, I said.
Hollis grinned at Molly. And a Metcalf sister! Ah, the stories I ve heard about you girls Molly, Molly, quite contrary, how does your body count grow? I thought I was bad till I read your file. A Drood and a Metcalf Just for the record, how the hell do you have the nerve to claim you re the good guys? I ve fought actual wars for queen and country and I haven t killed nearly as many as you.
I only kill people who need killing, I said steadily.
Hollis sneered at me. Yeah, that s what they all say, squire. They ve always got their excuse ready. It wasn t me, your honour. It was the voices in my head. Read it in the Bible; I answer to a higher calling! I ve heard it all before and it always comes down to bodies on the ground and blood on the hands. At least I m honest enough to admit up front I m only in it for the money. I m a professional soldier, because that s what I do best. I fight strictly for hard cash, not some nebulous cause.
Bit chatty for an ex-squaddie, aren t you? I said. But then, I never met an ex-soldier who didn t feel the need to justify himself for how far he d fallen. Look Hollis, was it? You can still step aside. We re not here for you. We re here for Crow Lee.
Well, you can t have him, said Hollis.
You work for him, and you have the brass nerve to lecture us? said Molly. Or did no one explain the whole Most Evil Man in the World bit to you?
You say potato, I say hard cash, said Hollis.
His money will spend as easily as anyone else s.
But the things he s done I said, but Hollis cut me off before I could go any further.
Compared to what you Droods have done, he s just a beginner.
It s not what you do, I said. It s why you do it.
Oh, come on! said Hollis. That s your justification? The terrorists favourite excuse? That the end justifies the atrocities?
You really don t know my family, I said.
Don t argue with him, Eddie, said Molly.
He doesn t really care. He s just making conversation to hold us here while Crow Lee escapes out the back door.
Hollis flashed her a quick grin. You re smarter than you look, girlie. Come on. Let s do it. You know you want to.
I armoured up, the golden metal surging out and over me, and Hollis snapped upright out of his slouch and actually fell back a step. He frowned uncertainly.
There s something wrong with your armour, Drood. I ve seen Drood armour before, and it never looked like that. I don t like the look of it.
That s all right, I said, through my featureless face mask. It doesn t like the look of you.
No, he s right, Eddie, said Molly, and there was something in her voice that made me turn to look at her. She was staring at me as though she d never seen me in my armour before. Something s wrong, Eddie. Your armour looks different. It looks tarnished.
I didn t know what to say to that, so I just shrugged and looked back at Hollis. Just in time to see him raise his right hand and make the shape of a gun with it, pointing the finger at me the way children do when they re pretending. And then he shot me in the chest. The impact sent me staggering backwards and left a great crater in the centre of my chest. But the armour protected me from the impact and repaired itself in seconds. I quickly recovered my balance and started forward. Hollis was using a conceptual gun, shaped and focused psychokinesis. I d heard of it, but never encountered it in the field before. Hollis took careful aim and fired again, three times in swift succession, his pointing finger jerking each time with the recoil. But I just strode forward into the invisible bullets, my armour booming loudly with each impact, shrugging the conceptual bullets off increasingly easily.
Hollis looked distinctly put-upon. He opened his hand, dismissing the conceptual gun, and gestured sharply with his other hand. A bottomless hole opened up directly beneath me, carpet and floorboards disappearing in a great circle to reveal a long drop with shimmering silver sides, falling away forever. And while Drood armour can do many marvellous things, flying isn t one of them. Luckily, I was blessed with really good reflexes. Even as the hole appeared and I started to fall, I was already throwing myself forward. I grabbed onto the edge of the hole as I fell past it. My metal fingers sank deep into the wooden floor, crunching and splintering the floorboards. My fall stopped abruptly, my whole weight hanging from the single handhold.
I looked down and immediately wished I hadn t. The terrible endless drop seemed to grab hold of my gaze, hypnotising me. It took a real effort of will to jerk my gaze away and look up at my handhold. Hollis was standing right over me, grinning. He stamped down hard on my golden hand and hurt his foot. He fell back from the hole, cursing loudly. Molly leaned over the hole from the other side.
I don t like to intrude but do you by any chance need a hand?
No, thanks, I said. I can manage.
I hauled myself up by brute strength, until I could get a second handhold, and then pulled myself up and out of the hole. The moment I had my feet back on the floor again, the hole disappeared. Inside the armour I was shaking just a bit, but no one else could tell. I nodded quickly to Molly and then looked over at Hollis. He scowled at me and plucked something out of the air. He held it up triumphantly before him, a shiny sparkling thing I couldn t seem to look at properly, even with all the filters and amplifications built into my mask. The thing seemed to twist and turn in Hollis s hand, as though its shape and nature were constantly changing. Hollis laughed aloud.
The answer to Drood armour: a supernatural can opener! I don t know why no one s ever thought of it before!
And before I could tell him why, he came surging forward to slam the shining thing against the side of my neck. It shattered immediately in Hollis s hand, falling apart into a hundred shiny pieces. Hollis cried out, as much in shock and rage as pain, and darted backwards, shaking his stunned hand. I was grinning easily behind my mask.
People did think of it before, I said. Lots and lots of them. But this is Drood armour. Why settle for less?
Oh, well, said Hollis, between gritted teeth as he shook his hand to get the feeling back into it, Worth a try Tell you what: Why don t we try this sneaky little thing I ve been saving for a rainy day? Specially designed to blast strange matter out of this world and back where it came from!
He raised his left hand again, and strange energies curled and whorled around it, twisting and turning in complex patterns. Hollis threw them at me, and the energies shot forward and splashed across my armour, only to sputter out and fade away almost immediately, unable to get a grip. Hollis just stood there and stared at me, blinking dazedly. I could have told him I was wearing rogue armour without a speck of strange matter in it, but why spoil the fun? Hollis said a few baby swear words that you wouldn t expect from a hardened ex-SAS officer, and actually stamped his foot on the floor in frustration.
Bastard sold me a pup! Last time I buy anything from a Nightside street trader!
Hell, I said. I could have told you that.
He looked at me. Don t you laugh at me, Drood. Don t you do that.
Molly came forward to stand beside me, and fixed Hollis with a cold, considering stare. You ve been ignoring me, soldier boy. And that is never a good idea.
She threw a whole series of fireballs at him, one after the other. Big balls of yellow sulphurous flames, crackling fiercely on the still air. Hollis threw one arm up and the fireballs slammed up against an invisible barrier, stopping dead in their tracks. Molly sniffed briefly and switched to throwing balls of spitting and sizzling energies. Hollis didn t stick around to find out whether his barrier would stop them; he was already off and moving, ducking and dodging. He jumped up onto the nearest wall and ran along it, and then switched to running upside down on the ceiling, laughing breathlessly. Molly pursued him with her energy balls, but he was moving so fast she couldn t keep up with him. The energy balls just ran out of steam before they could reach him, and fell apart. Hollis jumped down onto the other wall and I was right there, matching his speed with my own. I grabbed one ankle with a golden hand and then pulled him off the wall and slammed him onto the floor. He hit hard and curled into a ball, fighting to get his breath back. Molly nodded to me.