The Cyber Chronicles VIII - Scorpion Lord (20 page)

"Yeah, well
now we'll just have to pimp you out, won't we?"

"Nope, we'll
just take you down to the boy-buggering part of town and tie you to
a tree."

Sabre rubbed
his face. "If you two don't shut up, I'll pimp you both out."

Estrelle came
over and sat on the sofa opposite him. "At least I didn't come up
with that dumb idea, and make the arrangements before I'd even
asked you if you'd do it."

Martis cursed.
"Now I'll have to call it off."

"Yeah, you
will, idiot. I bet they'll be pissed off too. They probably sent
out the invitations already."

"Maybe not.
I'll be right back." Martis headed for the door.

"Wait," Sabre
said. "Sit down."

The tech came
back and sat as far from the cyber as he could.

Sabre eyed
him. "Here's how it's going to work. The fight ends at first blood.
Whoever draws first blood, wins. That way, they can bet on it.
They'll go for it. There's a chance that a good human fighter could
draw first blood, but none that he'll win. That's the rule, accept
no other deal, got it?"

Martis
grinned. "You bet! That's brilliant."

"I'll give
them a good show, without getting too banged up. I should be able
to do that against a B-grade, even at... seventy-two per cent."

Estrelle
grabbed the protein shake and held it out, Martis picked up the box
of body building pills. Sabre sighed, took the protein shake and
emptied the body building pills into his mouth, washing them down
with the shake.

Martis glanced
at his timepiece. "In two hours, you should be at about eighty per
cent."

"Great." Sabre
rose and went into the bedroom to fling himself down on the bed.
"I'm going to sleep. Wake me up an hour before, and until then,
keep quiet, and no sneaking around."

Chapter Eleven

The cyber's
flashing proximity warning light woke Sabre, and he opened his eyes
to find Martis approaching the bed. The tech stopped, looking
guilty and a little nervous. Sabre sat up and rubbed his eyes, then
went into the bathroom and showered. When he emerged, Estrelle and
Martis were sitting in the lounge, talking and eating snacks. Sabre
joined them, clad in his cyber clothes but without the weapons'
harness, the strip of white silk hiding the brow band, and picked
at the plate of finger food. The control unit informed him that he
had slept for four hours.

Martis leant
forward. "What's your status?"

"Eighty-seven
per cent."

"Wow, that's
great. You're definitely exceptional, even for an A-grade."

"Yay."

Estrelle
poured another protein shake and handed it to Sabre, who sipped
it.

Martis
shovelled chips into his mouth and munched loudly. "The fight's at
some underground arena not far from here. The guy who arranged it
is going to take us there. We get half the money up front, half
when it's over. We're supposed to be there in half an hour."

Sabre held out
his injured hand. "Strap this up for me."

When his hand
was bandaged again, Sabre followed Martis and Estrelle down to the
lobby, where a hotel employee, whom Martis had evidently made the
deal with, introduced them to a plump, balding man wearing flashy
clothes and too much bling. He grinned and rubbed his hands
together when he spotted Sabre, his air of smug satisfaction
increasing.

"He even looks
like a cyber. Hell, he could be a cyber twin. You sure he's not a
cyber?"

"Positive,"
Sabre said.

The procurer
led them into the street, wending his way through the throngs of
underdressed people that seemed to come out mostly at dusk. Not far
from the hotel, he entered another shiny skyscraper and they took
the lift down to the basement. The murmuring of a crowd was audible
even before they entered the underground arena, where ten tiers of
padded seats encircled a thirty-metre-diameter area covered with
terra-foam, a sand-mimicking artificial flooring. The place was
packed, and several floating cameras revealed that the fight would
be vidimaged to a wider audience. Powerful overhead lights
illuminated the arena floor, and snack vendors circulated amongst
the crowd, shouting their wares. The procurer showed them to a
plush, well-lighted office just inside the door, where two large,
handsome men waited, their manicured appearance, gleaming metallic
clothes and sparkly accoutrements screaming vast wealth. The
organisers handed over a pouch of credit wafers, which Sabre gave
to Martis.

"Try not to
lose it."

"I'm going to
bet it all on you."

"No, not all
of it. Accidents happen."

The procurer
guided them down to the arena and indicated two empty seats in the
front row for Estrelle and Martis, then opened a gate that gave
access to the arena. Sabre strolled onto the floor, and a subdued
cheer arose from the crowd. He was the free man, and, even though
the spectators expected him to lose, they were on his side since he
was pitted against a fighting machine. The cyber waited on the far
side of the arena, his handler beside him. Sabre went over to
inspect him, then walked back to the seats where Estrelle and
Martis sat. The lowest row was three metres above the floor to
allow for wall-walking, and Martis leant down as Sabre reached
him.

"Be on your
guard," the cyber warned. "Something's not right here."

"What do you
mean?"

"These are
crooks. That much I already knew, but they're the dangerous
kind."

"Why do you
say that?"

Sabre glanced
at his opponent. "They lied. He's an A-grade."

Martis
frowned. "I'll call it off."

"No. You'll
get your throat slit. It's too late now. I just have to wonder what
else they lied about."

"If he's an
A-grade, and they don't stop the fight at first blood, it'll be to
the death, and two A-grades -"

"I know. Give
Estrelle the money and tell her to take it back to the hotel and
lock herself in the room if the fight isn't stopped at first
blood."

Martis shook
his head. "She can't get into the room without you to open the
door."

"Shit. I'm not
going to be in any state to protect you two if I have to kill this
cyber. Then she must hide somewhere. I'll find her."

"Okay." Martis
grimaced, glancing at the other cyber. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, me
too."

A booming
voice announced the fight, and the crowd fell silent. The cyber's
handler gave him his order, and Sabre's keen hearing picked it up.
He looked up at Martis.

"This is going
to be bad. He just told the cyber to kill me."

"Oh,
shit."

Sabre nodded.
"Apparently, what these freaks really want to see is someone
getting killed."

Martis glanced
past Sabre, and his eyes widened. Sabre kept his back turned and
tracked the cyber who loped towards him. His opponent reached the
correct distance from his target and launched himself, his foot
aimed at the back of Sabre's head. Sabre dropped and spun, then
punched upwards to strike the cyber under his thigh and propel him
up into the wall. He hit the cement spinning, and his knees buckled
on impact. Sabre continued his spin and leapt, one foot lashing out
at the apex of his jump. It hit his adversary on the side of the
head and bludgeoned him into the wall. His skull cracked against
it, and he rolled to the floor before springing up.

Sabre backed
away, waiting for the next attack. The cyber circled him, but he
had been ordered to attack, and did so, dropping into a forward
roll. Sabre dived aside and then twisted into a flick-flack across
the floor. The cyber followed at a run, but Sabre reached the far
wall before him, ran up it and somersaulted over his opponent's
head. As he landed, he sprang into the air and kicked as the cyber
turned, but his foe ducked and lunged. Sabre twisted in mid-air,
landed in a diving roll and leapt up out of reach. The cyber jumped
into a spinning kick that Sabre evaded before he lunged closer to
punch his opponent.

Estrelle
gripped Martis' arm, her eyes wide, and he patted her hand, chewing
his lip. The cybers leapt and spun, dropped and rolled, lunged and
dived, moving with such speed that they seemed to blend together,
clad in the same cyber issue clothes. The only way to tell them
apart was the strip of white silk around Sabre's brow.

She leant
closer to Martis. "He's going to get hurt, and we could end up
dead, thanks to you."

"He'll win.
He's ten per cent better than any other A-grade."

"But only at
eight-seven per cent of his potential. I bet the other one's at a
hundred per cent."

Matris nodded.
"But Sabre's got more experience, and human ingenuity. He'll
win."

"He's also
older. If I'm not mistaken, the other one's only about three years
in service. He's got the upgraded brow band."

"Sabre's not
controlled by his brow band."

Estrelle's
hand tightened on his arm as Sabre dropped under his rival's
spinning kick and lunged at him, hit him in the jaw and jerked his
head back. The sickening thud was loud in the silent arena, and she
glanced at the crowd, which sat forward, intent.

A woman's
voice behind Estrelle muttered, "They're both cybers."

A male voice
replied, "The challenger's supposed to be a free man, but if they
are, that's even better."

Estrelle
turned her attention back to the fight as Sabre and the cyber
continued their graceful, lethal dance. Martis swore as Sabre
grabbed his opponent's arm and twisted it behind his back, tendons
popping. The younger cyber twisted out of the arm lock in a smooth
move, performing a backflip. Sabre kept hold of his wrist and
yanked, trying to ram his opponent's head into the wall. The cyber
ran up it and did another backflip, twisting his wrist from Sabre's
grip. Sabre charged and smashed him into the wall.

Martis leant
closer to her, not taking his eyes off the fight. "He's not
fighting like a cyber. They don't do close contact, it's too
dangerous."

"Why?"

"Because
they're so strong."

Estrelle
gasped as the young cyber bounced off the wall, and Sabre yanked
him into a throat hold, trying to pin him down.

Martis swore,
becoming agitated. "What's he doing? You can't choke a cyber!"

"Why don't you
go down there and show him how it's done, then?"

"Yeah,
right."

The young
cyber threw Sabre over his shoulder, sending him crashing to the
floor. Sabre rolled away as the cyber tried to kick him. He jumped
up, reeling as if injured, and Martis swore again, leaning forward.
The cyber leapt at Sabre, who spun aside and hit him in the back,
the dull, meaty thud loud in the hush. The young cyber staggered
and fell to his knees, then sprang up and spun around, his fist
lashing out. Sabre ducked under it and lunged, his hands flashing
out to grip his opponent's throat and hurl him backwards into the
wall. The cyber cushioned the impact somewhat with his arms, but
his head cracked into the concrete again.

Sabre smashed
his fist into his adversary's face as he rebounded off the wall.
The blow jerked his foe's head back, but he hardly seemed to feel
it. He twisted sideways and sprang into a perfect backflip, his
boots skimming past Sabre's nose as he jerked back to avoid them.
Estrelle chewed her nails, amazed by the fluid grace with which
they moved, the precision of their leaps and deadly accuracy of
their kicks and punches, most of which they avoided with an ease
born of split-second reflexes. They leapt metres into the air and
bounced off the walls as if their legs and arms were spring-loaded,
performing graceful handsprings, their spines bending into
seemingly impossibly tight curves.

Sabre dropped
into split that made her wince, then rolled away as his opponent
tried to kick him in the head. He sprang to his feet and leapt as
the younger cyber charged, twisting like a cat in mid-air to land
on his feet. The cybers' agility was perfect unless they were
knocked off balance, but then they hit the ground rolling and
sprang up unharmed. Sweat course down them and steam rose from them
in the air conditioning. She squeaked and winced as Sabre grabbed
his opponent's arm in a brief hold and smashed his brow band into
the side of the cyber's head. Martis squirmed and fidgeted, his
hands clenched, his face set in grim lines while his eyes burnt
with feverish excitement.

A trickle of
blood ran down the young cyber's face where Sabre had hit him with
the brow band. Sabre quit the fight, walked away and raised his
arms in victory. A murmur swept through the crowd as the younger
cyber loped up behind Sabre, who appeared to be oblivious to him.
His opponent lunged at him from behind, a fist aimed at the back of
his head. Sabre dropped and spun, grabbed the cyber's arm and
slammed him into the ground, then straddled his opponent and pinned
him down. The young cyber threw him off with a violent heave, and
Sabre rolled away to spring up next to the wall.

Martis turned
to her. "That's it, time for you to go. They're not going to stop
the fight. Sabre wants you to go and find somewhere to hide, take
the money. He'll find you when this is over."

She tore her
eyes from the fighters' lethal grace. "But..."

"Now. This is
going to get very ugly, so go, or these crooks might take the money
back, see?"

"Right." She
took the pouch he slipped to her underhand, tucking it into her
shirt. "Make sure he gets out of here in one piece, will you?"

"I'll do my
best. As soon as you've gone, I'll find the organisers and see what
I can do to stop it."

"Without
getting your throat slit."

"Yeah."

Estrelle rose
and headed for the exit, but two burly men stepped into her path
when she approached.