Simon Green - From Hell with love

"You ran out on your family?" said Molly.

"The strong will survive," said Methuselah. "The rest don't matter."

"You came here alone?" I said. "You didn't even wait for the rest of the Elders? The ones who believed in you?"

"They know where the teleport circle is. It's up to them to use it."

"So that's what immortality does," said Molly. "It makes you a selfish little prick."

"Let me fill you in on what happened, after you ran away," I said. "I brought my family into your Castle, and the Droods went head to head with the Immortals. Your family is dead and gone."

"All of them?" said Methuselah. "Not one of them got away?"

I shrugged. "Maybe half a dozen. They ran, like you. And I'm sure there are still a few out in the world, somewhere, pretending to be other people. It doesn't matter. We'll hunt them down and kill them."

"Don't," said Molly. "Don't smile like that, Eddie. Don't gloat. It doesn't become you."

"It doesn't matter," said Methuselah, and his voice and his face were as calm as ever. "I'm moving on. I would have left them behind anyway."

"I gave you that teleport ring," said Doctor Delirium. "I created it. I've always been a lot smarter than anyone ever gave me credit for. I put it together originally so I could get into the Magnificat. And then I gave it to Tiger Tim, so he could attack Drood Hall with his new Accelerated Men. It kept him quiet, so I could concentrate on the Door. It's given me so many good ideas…"

"It had to be you," I said, looking at Tiger Tim. "Only you knew the secret codes and passwords that would shut down most of our defences, to make the attack possible. Have you any idea how many good men and women died in that attack, fighting your Accelerated Men?"

"Not enough, clearly," he said. "You're still here."

I looked at Doctor Delirium, and he paled at what he saw in my eyes. "It serves you Droods right," he said defiantly. "For all your interference. Why couldn't you just leave me alone?"

"There will be judgement," I said. "There will be justice."

"You can't touch me!" said the Doctor. But he didn't sound very sure about it.

"You are a lot smarter than we ever thought," I said. "As a scientist. Otherwise, you're really a bit dim, aren't you? Or you'd never have put your trust in a rogue Drood and a selfish Immortal."

"I don't trust anyone," said Doctor Delirium.

"What about the Apocalypse Door?" said Molly. "Do you trust the voices you hear, talking to you from beyond the Door? Do you believe the promises they make, and the lies they tell you?"

"You think I don't know whose voice I'm listening to?" said the Doctor. "Of course I know. The voices tell me everything they think I want to hear; but in the end I'm the only one who can open the Door from this side. I'm the only one who can give them what they want, and I won't, until I can be sure I'm going to get everything I want." He glared at Tiger Tim. "I'm not crazy. I know what I'm doing. You're just jealous because the voices only speak to me."

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury," murmured Tiger Tim. "The defence rests. Now hush, there's a good Doctor. The big boys are talking." He turned his back on the Doctor, so he could smile at me. "I have to say I'm impressed, Eddie. Still here, still hot on my trail, even after all the things I've thrown at you to slow you down. Tell me, how many of our family died at the hands of my glorious Accelerated Men? I want numbers, I want names, I want details. Was my father among the dead, by any chance?"

"You betrayed your family," I said. "You put at risk the one real power that stands between Humanity and the darkness!"

"Why not?" said Tiger Tim. "What have they ever done for me? I thought you of all people would understand, Eddie. They made you a rogue too, just for wanting to be different. Of course, you weaselled your way back in. You probably even think you can save them. But the Droods are really no different from the Immortals, when it matters. All these generations of golden men and women-we should have been ruling the world by now, worshipped and adored! Why settle for being shepherds, when we should have been lords of all we surveyed… I'm tired of hiding my light under a bushel, Eddie. I want the throne that's rightfully mine."

"God, you Droods love the sound of your own voices!" said Molly. "Okay, everyone step away from the Door, before I decided to turn you into something small and squishy."

"But you haven't heard the best bit yet," said Tiger Tim. "Haven't you wondered why we're here, in this particular room?" He snapped his fingers loudly, and one whole wall disappeared, replaced by a virtual view of an outside scene, of the snow and ice surrounding Area 52. The image was flawless; it could have been a window. I could almost feel the cold.

"We're here," said Tiger? Tim, just a bit grandly, "because this room has the best view of what's going to happen. Out there is where we're going to place the Door and then open it by remote control. And then we can stand here and watch, as all the hordes of Hell break out, into the world of men."

"The Door chose those particular coordinates," said Doctor Delirium. "I confess I'm not entirely sure why. Sentimental value, perhaps? Did something important happen here long ago, before the poles shifted, and snow and ice came to cover everything that was here? It doesn't matter. I would have chosen the centre of some great city, for maximum shock and maximum slaughter, but then, that's just me."

"Think what you're saying!" said Molly. "Mass murder? Death and suffering and the slaughter of innocents? You're just a mad scientist with a thing for rare postage stamps; when did you ever care about things like that?"

The Doctor paused, uncertain. "I have changed. I know that. I had to grow up. Become… cold. Because I couldn't get the revenge I wanted so badly, if I stayed my old soft-hearted self. I never really wanted to destroy the world, before. It was all about power; about threatening the governments of the world with my wonderful plagues, just so that they would be forced to acknowledge my genius. But that was then, this is now. I will have my revenge. It's all I've got left."

Tiger Tim beamed happily at the virtual view before him. "Nothing like a ringside seat, for the end of the world."

I advanced on Doctor Delirium, and then stopped as he put one hand on the Apocalypse Door. The room felt distinctly warmer, the smell of Hell more distinct. The Door's presence seemed to beat upon the air like great membranous wings. The light was fading, slowly but surely, as darkness pressed in around us. Molly glared about her uncertainly, but none of the other three seemed to have noticed anything. Perhaps because they'd spent too much time in the presence of the Door.

"Is this really what you want, Doctor?" I said. "It's not too late to turn away from the destruction of the whole world."

Doctor Delirium drew himself up to his full height, and glared at me; but close up, more than ever he looked like a child playing dress-up. Not a mad scientist and supervillain, just a small podgy man in a grubby lab coat, standing next to something far more evil than he could ever hope to be.

"Typical Drood," sneered the Doctor. "Still trying to save the world, even when it's far too late. Why? It's not like the world's worth saving. It's rotten, corrupt, and it doesn't care. Let it burn. I wasn't always Doctor Delirium, you know. I had a real name once, a real life in the real world. I was hired right out of college, given all the best equipment and really good money, and all I had to do was make bio weapons for the Government. Nasty new diseases, with which to smite our enemies.

"I wanted to work on cures, but it was made very clear to me that there were no resources, no money, for that. I wanted to achieve great things, but my Government just wanted me to be a mass murderer. And I went along with it… Until a lawyer told me my Uncle had left me a fortune, a secret base and a private army. I quit that very day, and chose a new name for myself, a new identity. And then I set out to make the world respect me, as it never had before. I wanted to be Louis Pasteur; but it was bullies like you Droods that made me Doctor Delirium.