Dreadnaught. Kas ran to the window and pressed herself against it, leaving her drink behind. Then, as the other party guests began to cluster around, she swore and pushed her way to the door out to the balcony, leaving them behind.
There weren’t supposed to be any Dreadnaughts left. The treaty that had ended the Ninth Empire had specifically required that they be disassembled, along with all the other war machines Emperor Octavard’s twisted imagination had dreamed up. Where in the fucking Throne did they get that thing?
The colossal warbot had none of Alpha Zero’s grace or sophistication. It was the product of a later era, like the DreadCarl, but unlike the DreadCarl it wasn’t some frontline, mass-produced warbot. The Dreadnaughts had been the Emperor’s honor guard, and they’d left a trail of carnage across a dozen worlds. In terms of raw power, they’d never been matched.
Throne defend us. Kas swallowed hard, gripping the railing at the edge of the balcony. Throne defend Zhi. These fights weren’t supposed to be to the death, but if that thing hit her . . .
* * *
Well. Zhi forced a smile onto her face. Just have to make sure not to get hit, yeah?
“I was surprised when they offered to let me drive this monster.” Custis’s voice crackled and popped over the link. “Apparently the betting was going in your favor, and the House was getting nervous. Honestly I would have preferred to take you down in a fair fight, but I’ll settle for squashing you like a bug.”
“Not gonna beg me to surrender again?”
“Oh, no,” Custis said. “This time, you die.”
“The match will continue until one mecha is disabled or the pilot surrenders,” the House flack said. “Deliberate killing blows are not permitted. Begin!”
Small fucking mercy there. Custis wouldn’t need to pretend he’d killed her “accidentally,” not with the size and power of the monster’s weapons. All the more reason not to give a chance to use them.
Alpha Zero sprang forward, a leap with so much power behind it that it caught Zhi by surprise. The acceleration slammed her back against the gel seat, then threw her forward against the straps when the bot landed, feet spraying sparks and pulverized monocrete. The leap had taken her behind Custis, and she ran at the monster’s legs, knife aiming for the back of the knee.
The huge mech twisted, rotating at the waist a hundred and eighty degrees. Its two axes slashed down, and Zhi desperately aborted her attack and threw herself to one side, then ducked under a spiked punch. She scrambled away, out of range, as the monster straightened itself out, torso remaining steady while its legs made a neat circle.
Custis was laughing. “Nice try, Zhi. But it’s not going to be that easy.”
“’Ent any fun if it is,” Zhi muttered.
She pushed off again, more gently this time, circling to the right. Custis swung at her with a spike, and she dodged, waiting for the axe. When it came down, she stepped inside, raising her hands to catch the monster’s arm as the blade went over Alpha Zero’s head. She wrapped herself around the huge forearm, pulling the monster off-balance with Alpha Zero’s full weight.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Custis said.
“Evening the odds a little,” Zhi shot back.
She dropped her knife, shifting up the monster’s arm. Custis tried to reach her with his other axe, but his enormous warbot was too wide for him to get any leverage. Zhi felt a jolt as his flailing limb managed to connect, but Alpha Zero’s black armor held against the wild blow. She concentrated on her grip, putting one hand on each side of the monster’s elbow. Then she set Alpha Zero’s legs, feet digging into the monocrete, and twisted.
Metal screamed and sparked as the monstrous folly of the Ninth Empire strained against its ancestor from the pinnacle of technology. But Alpha Zero had all its weight behind it, against a comparatively weak joint. All at once, the elbow gave way, spraying shattered metal, and the huge axe dropped from limp fingers to clang against the arena floor.
“You fucking slag!” Custis roared. The spike-arm on his right side pistoned out, driving for Alpha Zero’s back. Zhi shifted enough to miss the point of the spike, but the base of it still caught her a glancing blow. The impact sent Alpha Zero tumbling across the monocrete, whipping her back and forth against the restraints. Desperately, she turned the fall into a controlled roll and brought it to