Chapter Sixteen Marek

Marek is standing at the control panel to the main hanger bay doors. It’s painted black, even on the inside. When he thinks about it, he’s not really sure if it’s night or day outside. The bottom of the doors are sealed, and there’s nothing coming in from underneath them. He tries to think of how long it’s been since he’s been outside, let alone anywhere off the SSS campus. He’s almost forgotten that there’s a whole lot more to the world out there than the shitty side of town where he grew up.

He pushes the lever for opening the huge sliders and stands back a step. As the light from outside pours in through the widening gap, he has to shield his eyes from it. Not only is he more accustomed to the night, because he was homeless, but he’s been underground pretty much since the day they starting working there.

For now, he’s pretty confident that no one on the outside will recognize him anymore. He’s cut his long hair all the way down to just a buzz, grown a big cowboy moustache like Mikel has, and is wearing real store-bought clothes. So long as he minds his language, no one should suspect he was ever a derelict.

In the same fashion as Mikel, he’s started dressing like a respectable company man. Most of the time, no matter what he’s doing, it’s a pair of jeans and the company polo. Today, since they’re going out on the town, he’s wearing Aaron’s nice leather riding boots and jacket. They don’t fit him anymore, so they’re pretty much his now.

Disguising Alexis has been a little bit more of a challenge. She won’t dye her platinum hair, and even though she used to almost exclusively wear a big brown trading cloak, her legendary physique will not go unnoticed. She’s going to dress however she damn wants anyway. Thwarting danger is kind of her thing.

Both of them are surely on leadership’s watch list, so they really do need to be careful. After being seen with the killer robots and investigators, they won’t be forgotten for a very long time. Nonetheless, they have to move on with their lives. They can’t hide in Sy’s basement forever.

After all the new upgrades he’s been doing to the centipede, Sy has decided it’s time to champion it in another robot battle. Going back to the Arena will have its challenges, but neither of them would miss it for the world. Sy is confident that they’ll all be fine going out anyway, as long as he stays within sight of the group. No one will be starting any shit with an SSS convoy on the road, and there certainly won’t be any scuffling at the arena. Rules or not, no one would dare.

Alexis is very clearly more excited to go out than he is. It’s most likely because Sy said it’d be ok of they rode her runner out there. She’s been bouncing off the walls for a chance to take it out again. The problem is that it’s built the same way as Aaron’s was when it was used to tear a hundred people apart the night Evan’s place burnt. There’s no way around it. It will be noticed. With any luck, the audacious red and white paintjob might do more to hide it in plain sight than anything else.

Sy told them it wouldn’t matter anyway. They’ll all be wearing SSS swag tonight. They are like roman citizens in Welan city. It won’t matter if everyone in the entire stadium recognizes them for what they’ve done. That kind of thing is more or less their gig now. They’re all a bunch of contract killers by trade. The riot and scuffle at Evan’s place was comparatively small-stuff.

He hopes that if he and Alexis are seen showing up with a twenty ton eight-by-eight full of armed guards, it might set a new precedence for them. All of Sy’s big-talk does actually help his confidence. Whether Sy is a show boater or not, SSS has a real reputation, and that alone should establish him and Alexis as off-limits.

Alexis has Monster out in the middle of the floor and is going over it with a soft hand cloth, making sure it’s as bright as a new penny. His mouth is going dry watching her in a matching red high-neck bodycon dress. This is the first time he’s ever seen her in anything remotely like this. To go along with Monster too, she has white heels and a broad sparkly silver choker on. He’s always had a hard time keeping his eyes off of her, but now, it’s like there isn’t even a choice.

He already warned her that her dress would ride up to her waist on her runner, but she doesn’t care. She said he could keep her hips covered with his hands if he has to. Clarice had spent nearly an hour earlier, helping her out with her makeup and heels. With them on, she’s gracefully tall, and her legs are simply impossible. Looking at them makes his heart rate increase every time. The way she dusts off her machine in that dress makes it look like her machine is up for auction, and worth millions. She sure as hell makes him want to buy one.

Whie everyone is gathering, he spots Sy walking into the main hanger. He’s wearing one of his typical sharp black suits with a red tie and white shirt underneath. Even his tie is custom made, striped with three of those lightning bolt S’s on it. The other senior guards that are accompanying him are all wearing sports jackets with that same tie too. It’s almost obvious, even the untrained eye, that they all have slim sub machine guns hanging from slings underneath their jackets.

He sure hopes he did a good enough job on the centipede. He’ll look like an ass if it gets torn to pieces in front of the crew. He’s pretty confident in it though. The new slick hard ceramic coatings on its armor, among other things, will make it almost impossible to grapple.

When Sy tells him to go ahead and load the giant robot centipede into the truck, he has to command it to climb into the back with some rather clumsy piloting techniques. He really doesn’t like doing it with anyone eeven in the hanger at all, let alone standing around less than thrity feet from it.

It made his stomach queasy when he learned that the things programming was actually fashioned after the mind of a real centipede. It’s unsettling how similarly to the Five-Series method its mind was recreated. A Welan City university’s biology class put a lot of time and research into finding out how bugs in general are able to accomplish so much with such small brains. With a grant from Sy, they made a complete computer model of the centipede’s brain for him. He chose the monstrous bug because it was the baddest of them all. They had no idea he planned on using the damn thing.

The cool thing is, the robot has a real mind that can think for itself, but the problem is, it still thinks like an awful giant bug. The best he can do to control it is by coaxing it with imaginary stimulus. The machine moves with true natural instinct, agility, and aggressiveness. It was never meant to be a fighter. It is a true killer. If he can’t keep it under control, someone is certain to get hurt in a bad way.

They didn’t let on for a while, but the rest of the techs were more than happy about handing the entire project over to him. They didn’t like it acting on its own, and they’ve had their fair share of close calls with it. They learned the hard way to not leave it unattended while it’s activated. Unlike most robots, it absolutely will start to do things on its own, and nothing good. Apparently, it likes to claw on things.

Using the control pendant, he lures the thing to the rear of the truck and then coaxes it to get in the back by making it think that it smells something tasty up there. As soon as the heavy armored creature rattles across the floor and scrambles up into the bed, he hits the big red button on the pendant, freezing it right where it is. There are still manual controls he can use while it’s stopped, but they’re a terrible hassle to do by hand. As soon as he has the centipede loaded, everyone else comes back out of their immediate hiding places and starts piling into the truck.

Just like he said it would, Alexis’s dress goes all the way up to the top of her hips when she climbs up onto Monster and sits down behind its shoulders. The big mechanical tiger-like beast looks so damn exotic with her atop it. When he climbs up on behind her, she grabs both of his hands and firmly places them on top of her hips. When she leans her head back to look at him, he gives her a big kiss. He’s not quite sure what’s got her behaving so freely, but he’s not going to waste it one bit.

Before Sy climbs into the driver seat of the truck, he looks back at them and notices his big grin. He shoots him a couple times with imaginary wheel guns in his hands, making them laugh. “You guys go ahead and take the lead. We’ll follow.”

With a “yee haw” Alexis abruptly leaps Monster into a trot and heads out of the hanger down the drive. The big transport truck pulls out after them, flooding everything in front of them with its headlights. Being cautious of the centipede not being strapped down in the flatbed, they only go so fast ahead of the truck. It’s been a while for him, and at only thirty miles an hour, he’s as tense as a starfish, thinking he’s going to get launched off any moment.

When Alexis pulls on the controls even harder, he’s forced to let go of her hips and grab onto the middle controls. The wind is doing whatever it wants with her dress, but she clearly doesn’t care. She’s watching Sy trying to keep up with her in the rear view mirror. He’s clearly not only trying to keep up with them, he’s trying to make them work for it. He can see the damn grin on his face. They do a good job of making the big truck work to keep up with them. It’s tires howl around some of the turns, and the centipede is sliding all over the place, but no one cares. It’s not like it’s going to get hurt.

When they reach the arena, Sy downshifts the truck through a couple of gears, making its big diesel V-sixteen really roar. There’s not a single person outside the venue not watching them as they pull around the front. Flooded in the truck’s headlights, everyone notices him and Alexis cantering Monster in through under the main entrance turnout. Sy stops the huge truck behind them with the compression brakes, making the ground shake. Spectators expect an entrance, and he definitely delivers. He’s grinning hard enough, it damn near hurts.

The loading area of the arena is lit up in colorful flowing lines of light, like a casino during some kind of red carpet event. It’s a very celebrated moment when the contestants show up with their machines. Over the intercom, the return of the centipede is being announced. From the sound of it, the nasty thing seems to have already generated a following since its debut. When Marek gets the control pendant out, almost everyone stops what they’re doing to watch. Despite the attention the centipede is drawing, it’s hard to tell if more people are actually staring at it, Alexis and her runner, or the oversized behemoth of a truck it came in on. Suddenly, sweat starts to form on his face. He’s never felt pressure like this in all his life.

Compared to usual, there’s a considerable sized crowd tonight. Far more then he would’ve expected. He hasn’t seen such a frenzy in a good long time. By the way so many of the people are dressed, there’s undoubtedly going to be quite a bit of money in the pool this time. It can only mean one thing. There’s going to be some serious competition. He can’t wait to see the high end machines that have surely taken the first bays, but then again, he doesn’t want to face them either. The thought of them already has him breathing heavy.

He hasn’t even seen the other machines, and his confidence in the centipede is already waning. Even though it’s a better machine than it was, it only proved itself once, and that was on an easy night. He’s seen some crazy things here, and anything can happen. All he can hope for is that they don’t get their asses handed to them in the first round.

He starts to get a whole lot more nervous when so many people begin to throng around him to watch. Surviving the riot at Evan’s home seems to have had a lasting effect on him that he didn’t see coming. Being surrounded by a crowd again has his eyes darting around everywhere and his mouth has gone completely dry. He finds himself looking for a direction to escape in case things turn south. When Sy puts his hand on his shoulder, he flinches.

“Hey man, I can’t fake smile for much damn longer, get the thing in there.”

As soon as he enables the centipede, he has to turn its eyesight off and only lets it follow its imaginary nose. Thankfully, the things erratic snaking movements do a good job of creating all the space they need through the sea of people all on its own. Its head constantly swings around, looking like it’s going to snatch and eat anyone that gets too close. He holds the pendant out and hovers his hand over the red button just in case. That alone makes people realize it’s no joke.

He does his best to keep the thing under control, but it’s like trying to guide a cat with a laser pointer. He regains a bit of his confidence in the centipede when he sees the scared and repulsed looks people give it while they push each other out of the way. The sound of it clattering across the plate steel floor gets people’s attention from far ahead. He remembers the chills it gave him the first time he saw it too.

Its glossy black, oily looking plated body is just plain creepy. The new dim red colored legs he’s made for it make it look as poisonous as the real thing. People caught off guard by it approaching screech and nearly climb over one another to get away from it. It takes every bit of his concentration to coax the damn thing through the rooms without it running away on him. People gasp every time he comes close to hitting the red button, which is often enough. If he hadn’t blinded it, someone would surely be dead by now. One at a time, he counts down the huge concrete arches they cross through. He knows how many there are and it helps him keep his stress down.

By the time they make it down the long ramp to the lower bays, he has cold sweats and feel like he’s going to throw up. The first two bays have already been taken, while the third is still empty. There are machines in the fourth and fifth bays, but no one is taking any of the other five. After seeing the number one and two positioned contenders, he can see why. Many other teams have shown up, but they’ve chosen to not enter this time around. It’s normal. No seasoned fighter is going to throw their precious machine in, just to watch it get completely gutted. When he turns to Sy, standing behind him, he still has that same cool cocky look on his face.

“Go on, take number three.”

When he finally gets the centipede to curl up in its bay and shut down, all he wants to do is plop down on the floor and sit there for a while. The thing is frozen in place, trying to dig at the steel floor where it thinks it can smell a snack. He has no idea what imaginary shit it’s seeking when he tells it where to go, but it makes his skin crawl. From somewhere in the crowd, he hears an old lady heckle him.

“Crawl away with your bug kid. You’re in over your head!”

He looks up at the murderous looking contestants across from him and sighs. The number one bay robot is quite a bit bigger than his. It has four heavy duty crab-like exoskeleton legs that look as fast as they are strong. The ends have heavy axe heads on them, the kind with the spikes on the back. Its body and legs have a high contrast multi-shaded tan paint job, possibly intended to confuse the focus of its enemy’s vision. He has no idea if it will cause problems with the centipede or not, but it might. Patterns like that are often used in nature.

On the top end of each leg joint, is a stout punishing spike. If it gets a good enough hold on the centipede, the fight will surely get gruesome. The center body of the machine is basically one big beak-like hydraulic jaw with a horn on the top of it. Its legs all protrude out from the top body of the jaw, while the bottom hangs down for snatching up anything it climbs over. He’s already imagining the thing handling the centipede like a chew toy. The only immediate weakness he can see about the machine is its eyes. The heavy steel bars guarding them are the first things the centipede is going to want to grab ahold of.

The second bay robot is easily as dangerous. It has a similar centralized body, but has more of a simple smooth oval clam shape to it. It’s all matt-white, but with gloss black legs. It looks like it was all white, until it walked through deep oil. It has four legs as well as the first, but the ends of its legs look like large heavy mower blades. It uses them as legs, but they can certainly spin. If it were to ever be thrown over upside down, it would still walk the same as if it were upright. The centipede won’t be getting anywhere near it without losing a few legs first, that’s for sure. For how high the thing stands up off the ground, the centipede will have to rare up to attack it, leaving it completely open to a face full of swinging choppers. None of it is looking very good.

The fourth machine looks to be more of a fair match. Its outward appearance is quite heavy duty, and simple. It’s basically a big snake, or worm, with repetitive body sections down its length. Instead of typical head, it has what looks something like a big four jaw chuck from off a lathe. The big barbed jaws look like they can clamp down on its prey and stay here for good. It’s likely only offensive technique would be to latch onto another machine and try to twist it apart like an eel would.

The one thing that catches his eye, is the huge harmonic drive on the head. His centipede uses two of the same type gear reducers to clench with, not as big. Theirs will definitely be able to generate devastating amounts of torque. If it gets ahold of any of the centipede’s legs, it will rip them off like flower pedals. Luckily for him, it has many extra legs to go around. He really hopes it’s not as fast as it could be.

He definitely feels like slinking off into the shadows now. This project is his job, and if he can’t do that, what use would SSS have for him? It’s not helping that Sy is acting like a flamboyant high roller either. If the centipede comes home in a twisted pile of scrap, Sy will end up looking like an ass, and he can’t do that to his boss. SSS has staked their public reputation on him. If he doesn’t dominate the field tonight, it’ll make people consider they aren’t as strong as everyone currently believes they are.

One thing that makes him feel less intimidated though, is watching Sy brag amongst all the pretty women he has gathering around him. He wonders if he has any idea they’re all are prostitutes. He chuckles to himself, to think that all it takes to impress any of them is a hundred bucks. He’s nearly had to beat them off with a stick after winning big a few times. He almost laughs out loud when he sees the eyes on one of them almost pop out of her face when she accidentally brushes her hand over the huge handgun Sy has concealed in his jacket. They are not supposed to be armed inside the building.

Not being one for a crowd or attention either, Alexis finds her way back over to him. She has undoubtedly seen her fair share of robot fights herself, and has probably noticed he’s in over his head this time too.

“How’re ya doin babe?”

“Uh, um…” He tries to swallow against his dry mouth. “Maybe we can hold our own for a little bit? Anything can happen though right?”

The hesitation in his response is pretty much what she was expecting. “Hey, come on, you’ll do fine. Luck is on your side, remember.”

With Alexis standing there in front of him, looking the way she does, he starts to lose focus on everything else. With her in that plunging dress and everything, she has his heart thumping as hard as it can. It’s the most he’s ever seen of her. He wants her so bad. The drive she incites in him brings him out of his little wallow of pity and makes him suddenly feel like a foolish buck in the rut.

Most derelicts believe in fate, but he never did, not until she lowered the hood of her trading cloak that day. He was going to turn the tables on the killer robots, and she had the device to do it. He can’t believe that also, so many years ago, when he was a boy, she was there for him during the most desperate moment in his life. Now, she’s here for him again. He wonders if she feels half as much for him as he does her. If she does, it’s more than he deserves. It makes him wonder what Migo would think, to see them where they’re at, and together. He wonders if the old man thinks they’re dead. He should call him.

He looks back up at her and then out across the crowd. “Did you ever wonder if you’d see me again, back then, when I was a kid?”

She pauses for a moment, waiting to catch his eyes, and remembering way back then. “I don’t know, I guess. Sometimes, things would remind me of you, like freezing rain, or when I’d hear a boy scream in an alley far off somewhere. I was scared for you. I always hoped that you’d made it. But when I never saw you again, I feared that you might not have. I knew I did what I could, but those were real hard times for me too. I was a young girl, in the wrong place. When it turned out to be you, who was trying to protect Valerie, it was like I… “She looks away, and then back at him. I could see that there was still some good out there somewhere.”

“I wish I hadn’t run away like I did, I know I was just a kid, but I’m always wishing I could’ve known you from the start. I feel like half my life was wasted without you.”

She can see it in his eyes that he’s upset with himself, like he really screwed it all up from the start. “Aw Marek, it was never gonna be easy for any of us, you know that. She wraps her arms around him and hugs him for a while. “Look at us now. We never even had dreams this big.” She gives him a big long kiss, the kind that will give him more than enough confidence for the rest of the night.

In the distance, they see Sy raise his arm up high and wave them back over to the group. They’re all heading upstairs. “C’mon you guys. I got us a VIP booth again, same one as last time.”

Under his breath, he sighs “Thank god.” It’ll be nice to be out of the riff-raff for this one. He hasn’t caught anyone outright glaring at himself or Alexis yet, but he can still feel a great many eyes on them. He’s been fretting about being recognized since well before they even got to the arena, but now. The thought of it has lost a lot of its edge since they arrived the way they did. It doesn’t matter if everyone wants their heads on spikes. They’re part of SSS now, and no one would dare make a move on them now.

The VIP booth they go into is likely the nicest one in the whole place. There are four different sectionals wrapping around the room, and in the middle are some really cool big metal and glass tables that have been made from the scrap parts of robots that lost their titles in combat. He recognizes some of them. There’s already plenty of snacks and ice bins full of drinks waiting for them. Everything and everyone is so high class. He’s way out of his element, and isn’t sure what to do with himself.

With Alexis at his side, they fit in together, taking some of the weirdness off it. Still, the anxiety of the first fight coming up is starting to freak him out again. His hands are even getting shaky. He keeps mentally going over even the simplest tasks with the controller pendant. There’s not exactly much he can even do himself, but it’s still all on him. When Alexis says his name, he turns ot her handing him a ten dollar beer. It’s like he’s entirely stepped into someone else’s life. Not in a million years could he have ever dreamt of being where he is now. This has always been a fantasy life that other people had.

By the time the night’s events start, the rest of the guards have all pushed quite a few more drinks on him. They’re already pretty lit, and he’s good and drunk himself. He’s used to much more crude of bootlegged liquors. This fancy stuff has snuck up on him unexpectedly. He and Alexis are having so much fun together, they don’t realize the show is starting until there’s quite a roar coming from the stadium. Wide eyed, he grabs the pendant and nervously walks over to the edge of the balcony.

The number one and two robots have already been brought up to the arena floor on their bay platforms, and the sexy lady robots are out on the floor waving their banners. It looks like both of the machines have wealthy private owners this time. Luckily, he’s been spared the first round. He had almost convinced himself he would surely end up the very first loser. Luck still seems to be on his side so far. .

After the lights dim, and the red arena lights activate, the number one and two robots start to size one another up. The axe-legged one lashes out with a couple fast and far reaching chops at the other machine with its front two axe legs. It only strikes the ground out in front of the other, blasting bits of dirt up from the hard packed arena floor. The strikes set the tone of intimidation for sure. The other machine quickly backs away in response. The crowd laughs and scoffs, egging their owners on. The two men controlling the number two machine are shown bickering and wrestling with their controls up on the big screen. They are clearly feeling the pressure.

Their looks turn sly and determined when they come up with their own counter responses. The oval shaped robot stops retreating, squats back on its hind legs a little bit, and starts to high step forward towards its attacker. Each time one of its front legs raises, the chopping blade end of it spins one full around turn before touching back down. Each impact sends out a sharp and loud metallic “clack” as the blade tips chop into the ground. The operator of the first machine nearly drops his controller pendant when it makes a sudden lunge at his machine. The crowd starts to chant “FIGHT, FIGHT!”

Goaded by the spectators, the two machines charge at one another, flailing their weapons with complete disregard for survival. An axe lands in the shell of the round white machine, sticking into it almost all the way up to the shaft. The other one reaches out too far, and ends up hooking its spinning blade over the front leg of the other machine. They’re both already good and stuck together.

People’s hands are thrown up in the air everywhere in annoyance. Two fighters stuck together is an annoyance, like a couple of boxers hugging it out instead of slugging it out. While grappled together, both machines do their best to throw the other to the ground. As they struggle, a terrible knocking sound starts coming from between them.

Despite trying to free themselves, the robots are still doing everything they can to kill one another at the same time. One of the oval robot’s spinning legs is taking advantage of the situation, spinning as fast as it can and chipping away at the armor of the other. Bright shiny metal chips can be seen flying through the air each time its blade makes contact.

Eventually, the axe embedded in its body is pulled free, leaving a large gash in the body of the other. The machines hurl themselves backwards onto the ground in full retreat. As soon as they right themselves again, they charge right back at each other again. People in the crowd instinctively shelter their faces with their hands and arms when the two machines collide for the second time. There is a fury of clashing metal while the robots swing their weapons as fast and hard as they can at each other. Everyone is expecting an entire leg to get thrown out into the stands at any moment.

It’s every bit as cringing as it is surprising how long the things are able to survive while taking so many hard hits. Eventually, one of the spinning legs of the second machine quits rotating. The drivetrain on the blade has failed. The number one robot takes advantage of the moment and forces its way in up against the body of the other. Its big jaws drop down and then thrusts back up, driving the top spike in under the body of the other, lifting it up off its feet. Thrown off balance, the oval bodied machine falls over backwards. Even though it can walk upside down just as well as right side up, it has momentarily lost its footing and staggers with only three good legs.

In a powerful overhead swing, the number one robot slams both of its front axes down across the rear legs of the other, trying to bind them immobile with the barbs on its own joints. When the disabled robot’s other two legs raise up and start to spin in defense, they bash into the vulnerable joints of the machine on top of it. It is not only trying to protect itself. The big powerful blades slam against the underside of its attacker with what sounds like serious results. The number one machine’s operator panics and starts smashing his hands across all the buttons he has on his pendant, and as fast as he can.

His machine quits trying to pin it’s opponent down and instead, starts hacking away at the white belly of it with great intensity. The assault is so loud, the arena crowd is hardly audible in comparison. Eventually, the entire oval bottom of the other robot is slashed to ribbons, crushed inward, and destroyed.

It’s almost a grotesque scene, watching the smoke, fluids and guts of the number two machine getting ripped out by the front axes of the other. The big jawed robot has wires and chunks of stuff all over itself by the time it finally stops. The owner of the losing machine can do nothing but stand there with his mouth open till the red lights signal the end of the match. The crowd is a little quiet, seeing his machine get completely destroyed like that. It went on long after it should have been stopped, and that’s on the arena.

Luckily, the random selection system doesn’t pick their third position bay next this time either. The fifth position machine, one he didn’t see show up, has been chosen to go next. From the looks of it, its owner isn’t even twenty years old yet, and has entered a large flying drone. The thing looks like it is equipped with some interesting things, but the quality of it is clearly entry level. On the underside of the machine, it looks to be carrying a big spray canister of some kind. It could be used to blind its enemy or maybe even light it on fire.

For some reason, he’s never seen a flying machine make it very far in any of the arena fights. He isn’t holding out any hope for it to do any real damage. This time, there isn’t all that much cheering coming from the stands when the machines are introduced by the robot card girls again. A good portion of the spectators take the time to go get snacks or take a piss. Out of encouragement, many people still do cheer for the kid. It’s supposed to be a fun thing to do after all. New challengers always spark a specific interest in a lot of spectators. It’s always inspiring to see a newbie make a strong start alongside even the most difficult of competitors.

The arena lights go red and then back to normal, starting the match. More interested in looking at Alexis than the fight, he turns to her. She smiles at him and asks for him to cheer for the kid. People would notice. She’s squeezing his arm in hers with anticipation. No one would ever expect it of her, but she truly is such a kind spirited person. Suddenly, the second the machines are unlocked, a loud and powerful roar from the drone fans drown everything out. A huge plume of dust billows out across the arena, leaving the top of the elevator platform completely barren. The drone pilot takes off as fast as he can, to get clear, but the starting platforms are not far away from one another.

The drone appears to have risked carrying too much weight. When its operator sees that it’s going to end up short on elevation, he fires a can of thick smoke toward the other robot, trying to disguise its location, and then banks left hard. Sadly, even though the other robot can’t see which way the drone went, its operator can. He charges his machine in at a full sprint, right at the thing taking off. In a high leap, the axe wielding monster swings its legs out wide. Only the tips of them can be seen slicing through the top of the thick smoke. Everyone gasps when they hear the unmistakable clattering sound of one smashing down on a fan shroud.

The four legged robot is simply too fast. The speed it charged in at the drone with is startling, making his heart rate spike again. When the smoke clears, and everyone can see the drone crashed down in the dirt, they can see that both of its front engines have been destroyed. One of them is missing its fan and the other has been completely broken off. It lays on the ground with its other two motors still sucking in dirt and blasting it all over the place. This time, the other operator is kind enough to not destroy what’s left of the kid’s machine. On screen, the kid looks disappointed, but still appreciative of it having not gone worse. No one ever enters their first machine with the delusion of winning. It’s a big reason why he’s so worried himself. He’s bet on a lot of machines, but this is technically his first entry.

He looks down at the small red light they were given when they registered. It’s vibrating and has started blinking. Alexis’s eyes have gone big too. When Sy notices, his face goes a little pail. Their machine is up next. With both hands trying to steady themselves, he grabs the pendant, loops its leash over his head, and props it up on the edge of the balcony. There’s so much shouting and cheering in the crowd, he can hardly hear the announcers when they introduce his machine. As nervous as he is, he almost forgets how to even work the thing. He looks down at the pendant and fumbles through the menu as if he’s never seen it before. Alexis has to remind him that he has to wait for the red lights.

When the balcony of their booth is displayed up on the big screen for everyone to see, he looks up and can see just how pale he is too. He watches along with everyone else as Alexis leans in close to his ear and tells him something, something that makes him remember just how good he is at this game, and then she kisses the side of his face.

While the commentator is razzing him about what he has to face, Marek takes his half empty beer and chucks it out into the fighting pit from up high. It smashes down right on top of the first place defending robot, encouraging huge rebellious cheers from the crowd. Undoubtedly, many have betted heavily on the centipede, since it did so well the last time. Trying to get himself broken free of his own fright, he points at the other operator and flips him off.

Before the lights can turn on him, he points the pendant at the other machine and highlights the whole thing yellow for the centipede. It elicits the same response it should have to one of its natural enemies. It’s time for it to fight for its life. He then highlights the front legs of the other robot red, telling it that it’s something to focus on as being dangerous, like a scorpion’s tail. It’s all up to the centipede’s bug-mind to handle the machine now. Strangely, he finds some kind of trust in the thing.

When the red lights turn on and then off again, he enables the centipede’s ability to move, as the rules dictate. Bragging, as he imagines Sy would do, he lets the pendant hang freely at his neck and holds his hands up in the air, showing everyone onscreen that he won’t even touch the controller. It’s quite a statement.

In the same manner as before, the first place robot takes swings at the centipede to intimidate it. It almost reacts to the aggression in the same instinctual way it would to a praying mantis. The centipede halts just short of the axe’s reach and then slithers in underneath its reach the very instant the axes raise up again. He’s never seen the thing move so quickly, but it’s still not as fast as the other machine.

Both front axes immediately slam back down on its back from up high as hard as they can. Sparks fly as they glance off its smooth hardened cover plates and land in the ground. While it’s on top, the machine tries to bite down on the centipede, but it’s not the right angle. It can only get at the overhanging edges of its armor. The centipede grabs ahold of one of the other machine’s rear legs, wrapping about five pair of its stout little barbed feet around it. There’s no way it’s going to let go now.

It bites down on the leg with its powerful front jaws and then starts hammering away at the joint with its new longer spiked front legs like a full automatic mantis shrimp. A loud ratcheting sound resonates through the entire stadium as it quickly forges the joint into a useless wad of chipped and deformed metal. It’s so loud, it almost sounds like a belt fed rifle going off down there. With the leg still in a firm hold, the centipede used the strength and weight of its torso to body slam the other machine to the ground. It’s a mistake that will cost it.

While the disabled robot is on its side, it’s able to swing all three of its remaining axes with full abandon. Numerous strikes land on the centipede’s face while it goes for the underside of its prey. A few of its legs get hit hard too, and are completely disjointed. The damage starts to add up when another strike suddenly takes out one of its eyes. The machine jerks hard, as if it has truly been hurt, and feels the pain. After that, the outlook of continued survival starts to circle the drain. There are still more machines to come, even if they manage to survive this one.

Frightened, the centipede becomes extremely aggressively and wraps twice around the jawed body of the other machine. It’s trying to smother it and jab at it with all of its pointy legs. As it wraps around tighter and tighter, the other machine starts to struggle to move. The three axes still swing away at its back in full panic mode, but its heavy armor plates are still holding up.

From the balcony, hear can hear the subtle whine of the big drives inside the centipede starting load down as it winches its heavily cabled core even tighter around the other machine. With a loud “pop”, one of the other heavy axed legs completely breaks loose at its base and falls to the dirt floor. It’s still held on by wires and other lines, flopping about in the dirt on its own.

The video feeds from both of the machine’s perspectives are put on the big screens, everyone can see through the eyes of the robots. It’s what they do when the fight is coming to a close. Chills run down his back while he watches the nasty face of the centipede show up on the big arena projector. It darkens most of the screen as it crushes the life out of the other machine. The glossy brick-red color of its jaws makes for a gory final visual.

The crowd jumps at the sudden renewed banging of the front spikes going off again. The competitor’s screen goes black as both eyes of the other robot are destroyed. Sy, sweaty from worry, plops down in his chair in disbelief, searching for a cigar in his jacket. They lost an eye, and got a couple legs busted, but their machine at least didn’t let them down on its first run.

He and Alexis start laughing hysterically. Neither of them can believe they survived, and in one piece. The main projector switches over to the other owner. He’s sitting down in a small folding chair with his hands on the top of his head. The announcer comments that he had gotten off pretty easy compared to what happened to the previous machine, and they’re right. The man won’t lose much on such a merciful killing. At least its guts didn’t get all ripped out.

The break they get between fights is only long enough for him to get himself a water and wipe the sweat off his face. The crowd is thirsty for action, and the last competitor is already being lifted into the pit. Sy is all amped up again, thinking the new machine is going to be easy. He clearly isn’t much of a judge of fighting robots.

After the AMF robotic women walk around with the announcement cards again, a small group of young women show up on the other projector, wearing lilac colored team shirts. They look like they’re only a college team, but that isn’t going to dissuade him. Sy isn’t smiling anymore either.

“Marek, I wasn’t going to put any pressure on you before, but we had better not lose to a bunch of schoolgirls.”

Alexis tilts her head and gives Sy a sharp look. He pretends to not notice while scooping up another beer from out of the ice. While being distracted by the two of them, he forgets to come up with any new ideas before the red lights signal the start of the last match. He only has time to highlight the whole snake yellow by the time they’re allowed to engage. Snakes have always been a natural enemy to centipedes, and he can only hope it knows what it’s doing. The entire fight is going to be up to the bug’s mind.

The match immediately starts out rough, and only goes downhill from there. The centipede loses a leg during each of the first two strikes from the snake thing. It’s faster than he had feared. While the centipede cumbersomely twists about, trying to catch the thing with its own jaws, the snake strikes its underside and bites down in its guts. With nothing to break off this time, the thing absolutely refuses to let go, turning the fight into a challenge of pure strength.

For what seems like twenty minutes, the snake tries to do death-rolls and slam the centipede around every which way it can. After a whole grueling ten minutes of this, the announcer quips that they can’t stay up all damn night watching this go on. They can’t end the fight though. Rules are rules, and it’s a fight to the death. Even if he wanted to surrender, it wouldn’t be allowed.

Knowing the strength of the titanium cords in the centipede’s underside, he’s still blown away by how much they’ve handled so far. It’s been turned over and slammed down so many times, it shouldn’t even still be moving. He sets his pendant up on the flat top of the balcony edge and looks through some of the menus to see if he can think of a way to help. While he’s occupied, an interviewer comes over to ask what’s going on.

“Your centipede doesn’t look like it’s going to squirm its way out of this one. You guys gonna throw in the towel?

“Me? uh, no. I was still planning on smashing a couple more drinks actually.” He looks out across the arena as if it’s not that important, steps away from the pendant, and grabs another beer. He wipes the sweat off his forehead, as if he were parched. “Hell, the thing hasn’t even seen any cannon fire yet. It’ll be fine.”

The lady with the mic looks at him awkwardly. “It doesn’t look like it’s going very well out there.”

He shrugs “Eh… we all just wanted to get out and rage tonight, ya know. So yeah, we figured, hey, let’s bring the centipede out tonight and see how it does.” Sy absolutely loves his nonchalant response.

While he’s continuing to talk with the lady, a low “pop” comes from one of the machines, making them all turn and look. It appears one of the many cables in its underside has finally failed. Strangely, it’s actually the women’s team that is more concerned. Their machine has a loose cable in its mouth and has now completely lost its leverage on the centipede. The second the tail end of the snake gets close enough for the centipede to reach out and grab ahold of it, it spells out the end of the fight.

A bunch of the rear legs grab ahold of the body of the snake. Even as strong as it is, it can’t twist free. One pair at a time, the numerous stout spiked legs pull the snake’s body in closer, gaining a permanent hold on it. Made of multiple solid sections, the snake isn’t as flexible as the centipede is. Being skinnier, it doesn’t have as much total strength to resist with either.

When the centipede curls up tight again, the stiff spine sections of the snake start to break at the joints. Eventually, the entre thing is crushed and folded up over itself. The damn bug does what would only be expected of it, and starts trying to chew through the base of the other machine’s head. The fight managers are more than happy to hit the kill button, and end the fight.

He and the rest of the SSS group all sigh together in final relief. For a while there, he really though they were done for. Sy shoves the hottie sitting in his lap up off himself, marches out the edge of the balcony, and yells as loud as he can “next!” None of them have realized it was the last fight until the main lights come back on.

Alexis hugs him tight, picks him up off the ground, and spins him around. “You did it!”

Everyone in the booth goes nuts. He gets handed almost a dozen shots, having to set every other one of them down as he kicks back the others. The only thing keeping everyone from suffocating him in a pile, is Alexis. She stakes her claim to him and does a good job of keeping him from getting pulled away.

Sy finally fesses up to everyone that there was more at stake than the robot and the SSS reputation. “Alright Marek, surprise time. For you, I put down your entire bonus, all twenty thousand of it. Heh, so yeah, those winnings are yours.”

It takes a moment for the figure of how much he won to sink in, but when it does, he still can’t quite grasp the magnitude of it. He still hasn’t thought of what to do with all the money he’s earned since starting at SSS, and now he’ll suddenly have at least three times as much. He covers his wetting eyes with his forearm as Alexis wraps around him again. He wouldn’t even know what to do with five thousand dollars, let alone almost a hundred.

He was so preoccupied with freaking out about everything else, he never even considered placing a bet, let alone that anyone else would actually have that kind of faith in him. Before he can think of what to say, Sy reaches out and shakes his hand.

“Hey buddy, you more than earned it. Well, that and if you didn’t… he makes a cringing face. “You wouldn’t have gotten a bonus.” When he sees the bewildered look on his face, he laughs and pats him on the shoulder. “Naw, I’m just kidding. Come on now.”

When Sy turns back to the rest of the group, he and Alexis stand there alone and gawk at one another. Having lived homeless, till not more than a few months ago, they can’t believe any of what’s happening. It’s like none of it is real and they’re going to wake up in an alley somewhere, to find that they’re still just a couple of crackheads that’ve woke up from one hell of a spin.

A couple of the guards head off with Sy to go collect the winnings, while he and Alexis hang out for a while. Nether of them want to go back downstairs until most of the crowd has left. They won’t be riding Monster back this time wither, not after drinking so much. While they wait, the arena crew drags the two machines back to their elevator platforms and take them downstairs for them.

After they make their way downstairs to check the thing out, he finds a broken shard of the snake’s body stuck in the underside of the centipede. The piece is too big for him to pack off with and hold the pendant at the same time, so he gives it to Sy as a souvenir for the bar.

Even after everything is done and over, his hands are still a little shaky most of the way home. There’s been so much to take in for one night. To him, the night was more intense than when he had to use an axe to fight off a dozen people at once inside a burning building.

When they finally pull the truck into the main hanger, it is almost morning again. Neither Sy nor Vaun make anyone unload the truck or anything, letting them all go straight to bed. It’s a surprise they made it back at all without running something over. Even though he’s flat worn out, the shock of what has happened is keeping him plenty alive.

Outside of his apartment, Alexis lingers with him a bit, instead of heading to her own room. He can tell she’s considering spending the night with him, but he knows the alcohol has a lot to do with it. While she is kissing him, she reaches her hands up under his shirt and feels his body all over. She giggles when she runs her hands over the sides of his ribs.

“Have you been working out?”

He smiles a big embarrassed grin. “Yeah, I have. What can I say, you’re a very motivating woman.”

She smiles a really sexy smile at him. “Hey, I really had a lot of fun tonight and really want to be seeing more of you often.” She pauses with her lip in her teeth, realizing that she’d said it backwards. “I mean I want to be seeing you more often.” They both laugh a little and smile at each other before she pulls her hands out of his shirt.

He can see the wanton look in her eyes, but she still has that hesitation in her. “I know, it’s kind of only been our first date…”

When she kisses him again this time, she takes everything she wants from him. “Fuck it.” She reaches around him, opens his door, and pushes him inside.