Live and let Drood sh-6

by Simon R. Green

  The family forced me out of power because I wouldn t go along with their changes. Exiled me, made me the first rogue Drood. So I disappeared, went away, walked up and down the world, hugging my rage and hatred to my cold, cold heart. I spent a lot of time with the Immortals, a family much like mine. I gave their leader the idea for immortality, having begged it from the Heart for myself as part of the deal I made. Centuries later I returned to the Droods. Killed some small nonentity and took over his identity. The Immortals showed me how to do that.

  And ever since I have always been there, hiding in plain sight in the background, doing my best to nudge and persuade the family back to what it should be. Just a quiet, influential voice advising and guiding those in positions of power. And removing those who got in my way. Those who wouldn t listen. Nothing like a good accident to stir things up and move people around.

  You killed the Matriarch Sarah, I said. So my grandmother Martha could take over.

  So I did! Pushed her down a flight of stairs. And then stamped on the back of her neck when she didn t have the decency to die straight away. I have always been well served by accidents.

  Why the hell did you bring the Loathly Ones into this world? I said. Did you know what you were doing?

  Of course. The Droods have always needed someone or something worthy to fight, to keep them sharp. To keep them the warriors I always meant them to be. I could see the War wasn t going to last much longer, and I wanted to be sure there d be a new villain in place afterwards. Who could have foreseen the Cold War? I was having such fun then, running endless agents and intrigues back and forth across the world that I quite forgot about the Loathly Ones. The Droods really were getting soft by your time, Eddie. I never intended my family to be peace-loving shepherds.

  Why ally yourself with Crow Lee? I said.

  Because I ve finally grown tired of the Droods, said the Original Traitor. Your wiping out the Immortals was the last straw. I always had more in common with them than my own family. I finally realised that the Droods were never going to be what I wanted them to be. And if I couldn t have them, why should anyone else? But now I think I ve answered enough of your questions, Eddie. It s time for you to answer some of mine. Starting with: Where did you get your armour? I can tell it isn t the strange-matter armour you got from Ethel, but it can t be the old style, with the Heart destroyed. So where did it come from?

  I found it in the hedge Maze, I said. It s Moxton s Mistake.

  Adrian Drood s face actually went pale for a moment.

  You fool Do you know what you ve done? I put that abomination in the Maze! Do you know what you ve let loose on the world?

  A weapon, I said. To use against you.

  And I reached into my pocket dimension and brought out the other little gift from Armourer Patrick: the skeleton key that could unlock anything. I jammed it right up against my torc, and the power in the key fought the power holding my armour inside my torc. The bone key turned slowly, relentlessly, in my grasp, and then snapped round in a complete circle. And just like that, my armour came to me. It surged out of the torc, covering me in a moment, cutting me off from my pain and injuries and weakness, making me strong and secure again. I rose to my feet to confront Crow Lee and Adrian Drood, and they both fell back before me. Mr. Stab studied me thoughtfully from the window but made no move to intervene.

  Now, I said, to my enemies before me. For all you ve done. For all the pain you ve caused me and so many others, now it s time for me to get my hands bloody.

  I have an answer to your armour, Crow Lee said steadily. He held up his huge hand, and in it was the Hand of Glory made from a monkey s paw. Bloodred flames rose steadily from the candlewick fingers. Crow Lee nodded, satisfied. I never throw anything useful away, and I always know where everything is.

  When it comes to who s got the best toys, I said, always bet on the Droods.

  I started towards him, and he thrust the monkey s hand at me while shouting some particularly nasty Words. The influence from the monkey s hand hit me hard, like walking into an invisible wall, but still I pressed forward, all the power in my armour driving me on. Thinking of what Crow Lee had done to my family. Of what he d ordered Major Michaels to do to my Molly. Thinking of my hands around Crow Lee s throat. My golden armour began to seethe and boil, and then to melt and run away, falling off in large golden clumps of semiliquid metal. But I kept going. Even as the monkey s power hit me again and again, hurting and pounding me even through my dissolving armour, I kept going. Taking everything he could throw at me, because nothing mattered, nothing else mattered except getting to him.

  And finally I stood there, right before him, half my armour gone and more falling away, and I snatched the monkey s paw right out of Crow Lee s hand. The tiny withered thing twisted and writhed inside my grasp, and I shook it hard until all its candles blew out. And then I threw the nasty thing on the floor and stamped on it hard with my golden foot two, three times. Crushing it with all my armour s strength. I heard the little bones crack and break. And my armour reformed around me, smooth and untouched.

  Mr. Stab! screamed Crow Lee. Time for you to do your duty! You shall have everything I promised you! Everything! Just stop the Drood!

  I turned unhurriedly to look at Mr. Stab as he moved slowly forward from the window, a long blade suddenly in his hand, glowing bright.

  I can reach you inside your armour, said Mr. Stab. My blade can cut anything; that s part of what was given to me. And you know you can t hurt me. You tried to kill me before, after I killed Penny. Cut my head right off and I just put it back on again. You can t stop me, Eddie, because nothing can. That s what I bought all those years ago in the dark slums and back alleys of Whitechapel. Part of me wants to say, I m sorry it s come to this. But I m not, not really. This is what I was born to do. Anything else was just a dream.

  And then we both stopped and looked around, as the sound of a roaring car engine drew rapidly closer. There were loud crashing noises of things breaking, shouts and screams and all the sounds of destruction, as something drove right through people and objects at speed. And then the scarlet-and-white Plymouth Fury crashed through the wall and the window, punching through the solid structure like it was nothing, to roar into the room and pounce on Mr. Stab. Ran him down and ran him over, and then screeched to a halt, leaving Mr. Stab pinned helplessly under the weight of the car.

  I knew you were in trouble! said the sat nav s strident female voice from inside the car. I could sense it. I ve got really powerful sensors. I ve been looking in all along, waiting for my moment. You didn t think the Regent would give you just any old car, did you? I m the Scarlet Lady, one of the Regent of Shadows s best undercover agents! I am your backup! What do you want me to do?

  Just hold Mr. Stab down for now, I said.

  No problem! said the car. Mr. Stab struggled wildly underneath the Plymouth Fury and even tipped it back and forth, but with no leverage he couldn t throw it off. Victorian values, my shiny red arse, said the car.

  I looked at Crow Lee. Don t run, I said. And something in my voice made him flinch. Stay right where you are. I ll get to you. Once I ve finished with the traitor.

  I gave Adrian Drood my full attention. He stood his ground, staring defiantly back at me.

  All these years, I said, killing your own flesh and blood, so you could replace them undermining and destroying your own family from within.

  Why not? said Adrian. It was mine to destroy. Mine to do with as I pleased. I made it! I made the Droods possible!

  But we moved on, I said. We became something better and greater than you ever intended. We became something you never even conceived! With your limited, barbarian mind All the years you ve lived, and you ve learned nothing! And when you finally realised we would never sink to become what you wanted, that we d never settle for being something so small, you threw a temper tantrum like a threatened child, and ran away to Crow Lee to get rid of us. You petty, spiteful little turd.

  You let me down,
said Adrian. You disappointed me. Every damned one of you. It doesn t matter. I can always start again. Make a new family.

  Without the Heart? I said. Without Ethel? You have no armour.

  Then I suppose I ll just have to take yours, said Adrian. He lifted his hand, and in it was the monkey s paw made over into a Hand of Glory. The bloodred flames were burning steadily again. He laughed briefly at me. You didn t really think you could destroy something as powerful as this just by stamping on it? It was easy for me to call it out from under your foot while you were busy puffing up your chest and boasting. You don t live as long as I have without learning a few useful tricks. Now, let s try this again.

  He thrust the monkey s hand at me and spoke a single Word, and just like that the rogue armour ripped off me, and all my pain and injuries returned. I cried out, but I didn t fall. Adrian cried out at the cold shock of what it was like to wear Moxton s Mistake. And then he stood before me, powerful and proud, in the golden glory of Drood armour. He started to say something and then he cried out again in horror as the rogue armour constricted suddenly about him. It shrank in sudden spurts, falling in upon itself, crushing Adrian inside it as it compacted itself in sudden rushes. The limbs were sucked inside the trunk, which collapsed in on itself, while Adrian screamed and screamed until the screams cut off abruptly. And still the armour shrank in upon itself, until nothing was left but a golden box, a cube barely three feet in diameter, sitting quietly on the carpet before us. Crow Lee looked at it in silent shock, and then looked at me.

  Don t look at me, I said. I didn t know it could do that.

  The golden box exploded back into human shape again and stood facing me. Moxton s Mistake, regarding me with its featureless golden face.

  He put me in the Maze, it said, in its rasping inhuman voice. Left me there to run wild for centuries. Did he think I d forgive and forget? Your torc has no authority over me, Eddie Drood. I serve you only because I choose to.

  We made a bargain, I said steadily.

  So we did, said the rogue armour. I haven t forgotten. Take this as a sign, a warning of what might happen to you if you were to turn against me.

  It hunched its back, which split open to allow out what remained of Adrian Drood. A hot and steaming cube of compacted meat and splintered bone burst out of the armour s back and fell, stinking and splashing, to the floor in a rush of bodily fluids. And while I was looking at that, the golden armour flowed forward and wrapped itself about me. I shuddered, and not only from the familiar cold. I felt strong and well again, free from all pain, but I also felt the armour s presence watching me thoughtfully. I looked at the bloody steaming mess on the carpet. Not a bad end for the greatest traitor the Droods had ever known. I just wished I could have done it myself. It occurred to me that the armour could have done the same thing to me any of the times I wore it. And still could

  I turned to consider the Plymouth Fury. Mr. Stab was still trapped beneath it, still struggling to break free. He rocked the heavy car back and forth with his more-than-human strength, but he still couldn t lift the thing off him. The Plymouth Fury settled itself more firmly, like a duck upon its eggs, quietly humming

  Rock n Roll Is Here to Stay. I stopped down, picked the monkey s hand up off the floor and slipped it through my armoured side and into my pocket dimension. Because you never knew and because I didn t want anyone else to surprise me with it.

  I moved over to the car and knelt down beside Mr. Stab s protruding head and shoulder. He d worked one arm out from under the car, and suddenly there was a blade in it, shining bright. I grabbed his hand and squeezed hard until he dropped the knife. And then I picked it up and snapped it neatly in two. The bright glow was quickly gone, leaving just two pieces of broken steel. Mr. Stab glared at me sullenly as I threw the pieces aside.

  It s all right, I said to the car.

  You can get off him now.

  Are you sure? said the car. I can run back and forth over him a few times, if you like. No trouble

  Thanks, I said. But that won t be necessary.

  The car sniffed loudly, reminding me irresistibly of Molly for a moment. People just don t know how to enjoy themselves.

  The Plymouth Fury backed slowly away, reversing steadily till it was halfway out the jagged hole it had made in the wall when it arrived. Mr. Stab rose slowly to his feet, brushing the dust off his Victorian finery in an unfussy way. His eyes never left mine.

  You ll never stop me, he said coldly.

  I can recover from anything you do to me. You ve seen that for yourself.

  Maybe no one ever tried hard enough before, I said. Maybe no one was ever motivated enough before me. This new armour really is very versatile. The things it can do You saw what it did to the traitor Drood.

  Crush me. Put me in a box, said Mr. Stab.

  I ll still bounce back. Like the worst jack-in-the-box you ever saw.

  He held up his hand, and there was a new shining blade in it. He swept it back and forth before him, smiling coldly.

  I am never without a blade. This, too, was given to me.

  But all the other attacks were from outside, I said. I m thinking about inside.

  And before Mr. Stab could react, I stepped quickly forward and punched him in the mouth. The golden armour didn t stop at his mouth; it carried on, flowing down his throat, filling up his insides. I held him firmly with my left hand as he struggled wildly, my right hand pressing down on his mouth. The golden metal flowed off me and into him, inside him, filling every space, every little nook and cranny. He couldn t scream, but his eyes were full of a terrible horror. He still couldn t die, despite what was being done to him. So I sent a final command through my torc, and the golden metal inside Mr. Stab exploded. The blast tore him apart, blasting him open from inside, every bone and organ reduced to fragments and less than fragments.

  I d got the idea from watching Molly s protein exploder.

  A familiar pink mist rolled and roiled in the air, but this time there were no bones. The bloody mist fell slowly out of the air to soak and stain the carpet. I could feel the rogue armour s presence at the back of my mind. Felt its satisfaction.

  I just felt cold.

  For you, Penny, I said. And for all his victims down the years. And especially for six poor women in Whitechapel, who never wanted to be part of a legend.

  The Plymouth Fury whistled loudly. Way to go, Drood! Let s see the evil little scrote come back from that!

  I ignored the car and turned to look at Crow Lee, who was standing very still, exactly where I d left him. He smiled briefly.

  People can always surprise you. Have to say, Eddie, I didn t think you had it in you.

  I didn t, I said. He had it in him. And I did it for the victims.

  No, said Crow Lee. You did it for yourself. I know about these things.

  Why didn t you run? I said. I was distracted. You might have got away.

  Where could I go that you wouldn t find me? You re a lot more than I thought you were I m bad, Drood, but you re the biggest monster in this room. So, better to stay and work out some kind of agreement that will get you off my back.

  You took away my family and my Molly.

  The least of my many crimes, but let s not dwell on the Past. I still have something to bargain with. Something you want.

  Can you bring back Molly and her sisters?

  No I m not exactly sure where that particular spell sends people. Not that I ve ever given a damn, as long as they disappeared from my life. It can t be that bad; no one ever comes back to complain! Little joke there No. All right. I can help you recover your lost family! I still have the remote control I used to send Drood Hall away. It still contains the exact coordinates of the dimension I had Alpha Red Alpha send them to. A place so remote and distant you ll never find them, Eddie, never track them down. Not without the exact coordinates contained within my remote control.

  You still have it? I said.

  Not here, Crow Lee said quickly. Not actually on me
but it is somewhere near. Somewhere safe. We can make a deal, Drood: I give you the remote, and you agree to let me live.

  Let you live? I said. Let you go unpunished after everything you ve done? I remembered the major hitting Molly, his fist smashing into her face over and over, saying, This is Crow Lee s orders. I shook my head. I don t think I can do that.

  Isn t it worth it? To get your family back? Immunity for one man, to have the mighty Droods back in the world again?

  But you re not the only game in town, I said. I have the monkey s hand. It can find anything. It can make changes in reality. Put that together with my Merlin Glass, and what do I need you and your remote for?

  Well, yes, technically speaking, said Crow Lee.

  But, unfortunately, I know more about these objects than you do. So I know it s already pretty much used up. It can only hold a certain amount of magical energies, and it has been very busy. You see, a monkey s paw isn t supposed to be a Hand of Glory. And vice versa. The two contrasting natures are always fighting it out, which is why it can never hang on to its various powers for long. See for yourself.

  I looked at him for a long moment and then fished the ugly thing out of my pocket dimension. The monkey s paw was always a dried, withered thing, but now it was actually rotting and falling apart. I let it drop to the floor, and it just fell to pieces as it hit. Crow Lee tutted sadly.

  They really are such fragile things. So, now you re going to have to make a deal with me, Eddie. If you ever want to see your family again.

  And then we both stopped and looked around sharply, as we heard the sound of something approaching. A great roaring, rushing sound that seemed to come from every direction at once, and then concentrated directly under my feet, under the floor. A sudden wild surmise gripped hold of my heart, and for a moment I couldn t breathe, for hope. I stepped quickly backwards as the great hole before Crow Lee s chair reopened, and Molly and Isabella and Louisa came flying up out of the hole together and back into the room. The hole in the world disappeared and the three Metcalf sisters stood there together. They all looked radiantly healthy and entirely uninjured. Molly didn t have a bruise or a drop of blood on her. She smiled brightly at me.