They had to win, though. For Sue, and for The Forge, and maybe even for Josh himself.
But mostly so she could beat the shit out of Miles fucking Erck.
One of the referees stepped up to start the fight, another uniformed human with dark skin and a long red braid. “All bets final now,” she said, her voice amplified over the still-chatting crowd. “Grudge match, three-on-three. Your challengers are Team Siren, led by the legendary Number One from the bot pits on Tamna, operating Goyangi.”
Whatever they’d been chatting about before, the murmurs of the crowd now took on an excited, occasionally nervous timbre. Eva could practically hear a few hundred people searching the q-net for information on Min, assuming they hadn’t done so before they placed their bets. Miles himself didn’t react, so either he already knew, or he didn’t care.
“The challengers will be opposed by Team Conquest,” the referee continued, “led by your reigning champion, Pounder!” Miles made his robot flex for the crowd while Nara and Jei stood impassively next to it.
Eva, meanwhile, once again tried not to pee herself with laughter.
“Three minutes on the clock,” the referee said. “First fighter, take your position.”
Sue moved forward to the middle of the pit, while Jei did the same, his dog-bot trailing after him. Eva sent up a quick prayer to the Virgin for luck and protection, for the others more than herself, though she’d gladly take a little if there were any to spare.
The referee retreated to safety outside the fence and raised an arm. “Ready? Begin!”
Chapter 8
Take You for a Ride
Jei and Sue stared at each other for a long moment that turned into several, to the point that the crowd started grumbling. Eva glanced up at the balcony where Hjerte had appeared earlier; it was still mercifully empty. They needed to get things moving, or time would run out and it would be sudden death. She didn’t like those odds.
“Forfeit now and spare yourself,” Jei said suddenly. “This need not devolve into violence.”
Sue peeked out of Gustavo. “Why don’t you give up, then?” she shouted back. “If you don’t want to fight?”
“I must win,” he replied, “for the sake of my own mission.”
“Yeah, well, me too.” Sue stuck her tongue out and pulled her lower eyelid down with her forefinger.
“So be it, then.”
Jei was first to attack, leveling his arm cannon at Sue and firing an energy beam that she barely managed to block, with her shield that Eva was pretty sure had once been a trash recycler lid. Jei charged forward, continuing to fire, even leaping into the air with rocket-assisted boots to shoot down at her from above. Sue blocked, and retreated, and Eva wished she could bite her nails through the gauntlets of her armor because the poor girl really was not equipped for such an all-out assault. Jei was fast and nimble, while Gustavo was slow and bulky, but at least now the crowd was getting into it.
Sue was almost to the fence when Jei leaped back, pausing in his attacks as if to assess what damage he had done already. It seemed mostly cosmetic, scorch marks and dents in the mech’s exterior plating. Now that she had a chance, though, Sue took it.
With a fierce scream, she launched Gustavo at Jei, throwing a punch boosted by the rockets in the back of its elbow. Jei dodged, only to get a face full of flamethrower that he barely deflected with his raised arms. Before Jei could do more than stumble backward, Gustavo had stretched its arms out and was spinning them like a helicopter, landing a couple of solid hits that knocked Jei to the floor a few meters away.
“Get up, you worthless sack of meat parts!” Miles shouted from the safety of his controller seat. “You’re making me look bad!”
If Jei heard him, he didn’t react. Instead he got back on his feet just in time to avoid Gustavo’s chainsaw, which bit into the floor, sending up sparks. He backed away and whistled, and suddenly his dog robot was next to him, delivering what looked like an alternate arm weapon. Swapping it in quickly, he pointed it at Sue and launched a metallic projectile that proceeded to ricochet all over the pit, hitting Gustavo repeatedly as Sue ducked inside to avoid being struck. This gave Jei the opportunity to once again strike, until finally Sue had enough.
Poking her head over the lip of the mech, Sue fired something at Jei that Eva couldn’t track. It hit, but didn’t appear to do any damage, and Jei paused to examine himself in confusion.
“Lunch time!” Sue shouted, and every single one of her tiny bots leaped out of the mech and rushed at Jei, washing over him like a yellow tsunami. Some carried miniature blowtorches, some hammers or screwdrivers, and some wielded random things like lengths of pipe or pieces of hull plating. One of them even had a chancleta that Eva had been looking for and assumed a cat had stolen, despite Mala’s sullen refusal to admit guilt.
The bots banged away at Jei as he writhed on the floor, trying to get to his feet. Eva cheered along with the crowd, drawn into the spectacle despite herself.
This is real, and dangerous, she thought. Stay focused.
Jei’s dog brought him another weapon, which Jei struggled to swap in as the bots continued their assault. Finally he activated it, and it launched a jet of air that blew away half his tiny attackers. They rolled back toward Sue, who collected some of them with Gustavo’s giant hands as others climbed back into their respective places on their own.
“Get him out of there,” Miles shouted. “This is embarrassing!”
Nara stepped forward to tag Jei out. He retreated reluctantly, and Eva took that moment to check the timer.
Two minutes left. They needed to start knocking people out, or this might come down to sudden death. She really wanted to avoid that if possible.
“You’re doing great, Sue!” Min shouted. “Keep going!”
Nara stood still in her black armor, her own arm weapon aimed at Sue but not firing. Sue approached cautiously, her shield raised, and the hairs on Eva’s arms stood up despite the foam pressing them down. When Nara still did nothing, Sue lowered her shield and rushed forward, Gustavo’s arm swapping from a fist to a drill.
“Sue, no!” Min shrieked, but it was too late.
Nara hadn’t been waiting; she’d been charging her plasma cannon. As soon as Sue was close, Nara fired, an enormous ball of energy that knocked Sue across the whole pit and nearly into the fence. With effort, Sue hauled the mech to its feet and swung the shield up to block the homing missiles that Nara had begun to launch as well.
“Cap, tag in!” Min said.
“Against missiles?” Eva asked, gesturing at Nara, who was now darting forward to attack Gustavo directly.
Min’s bot made a shooing gesture, and Eva shrugged. With an assisted boost from her suit’s hand-propulsion units, she leaped in front of Sue with her leg already out, landing a kick that scooted Nara back and allowed Sue to retreat. Gustavo now sported a giant black scar across its front, and tiny yellow bots squealed and rushed around putting out fires and making other minute repairs. Sue herself seemed shaken but unharmed, thankfully.
“Annihilate her!” Miles shouted at Nara. Eva rolled her eyes; as if the bounty hunter needed tips from Miles fucking Erck, of all people.
“I can’t believe you’re fighting for that comemierda,” Eva said, her voice amplified by her armor.