Making his way through the corridors of the extended gaming complex, Fortunato had something of a revelation. The real advantage of his situation… of being one man against many without allies to speak of… was that he didn’t have to waste precious moments deciding how to deal with any individuals he found in his way. Another armed man in a business suit jumped out in front of him… he simply pointed his own gun and squeezed the trigger. A powerful laser heated and ionized the air, creating a conductive channel of plasma through which a bolt of destructive electricity flowed as swiftly and surely as it would have been carried along a length of primitive copper wiring.
The man cried out and spasmed violently before crumpling to the floor… possibly dead, possibly just incapacitated. It was hard to be sure. The electrolaser had “stun” and “kill” settings, but any weapon that sent electricity coursing indiscriminately through the human body was going to be vulnerable to so many x-factors it was hard to predict their exact effects.
The electrolaser was far from the most precise or powerful weapon of its size, but it held a certain appeal for a man of Fortunato’s classical sensibilities. Lightning had traditionally been seen as a weapon of gods dispensing divine justice (or at least divine caprice) from on high, and now it could fit snugly in one’s hand. It was all so very heady, and so he was glad that he didn’t have to worry about accidentally striking down a friend or ally.
A pair of armored Hospitality Ambassadors loomed before him. He slid a switch with his thumb before shooting one of them, and it unleashed a stronger beam that burned a pinhole-sized opening in the outer layer of the armor, through which his man-made lightning eagerly jumped, damaging its electrical systems. Fortunato charged in the wake of the wake of the lightning bolt, slashing with his saber at the other soldier. It didn’t quite part the armor like butter, but it did rend a big dent-like gash in his chestplate, through which Fortunato discharged a point-blank electrical blast. The man went down as his squadmate’s system was rebooting, far too late to prevent him succumbing to the same fate.
Really, Fortunato thought, it was a bit of a wonder that more people didn’t simply declare war on the universe and all its puny inhabitants… it provided one with a one-size-fits-all solution to the problem of interpersonal interaction. In his youth, Fortunato had been quite sure that the whole universe had been out to get him, and he’d acted accordingly… if not with violence than with a healthy level of suspicion and distrust.
Lilliana had been the first person to get him to let his guard down… and even considering how that had turned out, he hadn’t learned his lesson. The fact that he’d allied himself with bureaucrats and bean counters, that he’d become so dependent on them that he’d signed away control of the little kingdom he’d carved out for himself, was proof enough of that.
The time had come for the correcting of old mistakes… if at all possible, in chronological order. Lilliana first. Yes. The idea had a certain neatness to it.
Another group of Ambassadors blundered into his view. He rammed his sword into the shoulder joint of the first one, then let off his electrolaser along the blade, with impressive results. So far they were obviously trying to take him alive… the Gaming Commission apparently felt he was still essential to their needs, that his name and his image made him worth keeping around. Sooner or later, he’d change their minds… hopefully later.
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