The floor jolted and they started downward. Once the elevator stopped, she saw a huge, cavernous area ahead.
A few steps down led to the main floor.
Four enormous fans were embedded horizontally into the floor. They were spinning, sending air gusting up. They provided ventilation for the arena.
“Zaden, detect anything?” Maxon asked.
“No, but there are energy readings disturbing my scans,” the young cyborg replied.
“Mine, too.” Maxon didn’t sound happy.
They walked up to the railings circling the closest fan.
Air rushed up and when Bellamy looked down, she saw the fan spinning so quickly it blurred. “Let’s search for the mag-tech.”
They fanned out, exploring the space.
“I’m not detecting any strong magnetic fields,” Zaden said with a frown.
Damn. “It’s got to be here somewhere. Keep looking.”
As she searched, the whoosh of the fans echoed in her ears.
More minutes ticked by, and then Maxon grabbed her shoulder and shook his head. “It’s not here.”
“Dammit.” She wanted to punch something.
Suddenly, shouts echoed through the space.
Zaden tensed. “Several Edull just entered the room.”
“Drak,” Maxon muttered.
Laser fire winged past them, and they all ducked. Maxon pulled a weapon and returned fire.
Edull were running in their direction.
More shouts. Bellamy spun and saw another door on the far side of the fans. It was open, and more Edull guards were pouring in.
Shit, they were trapped in the middle.
There was more laser fire and Maxon grunted.
Her pulse spiked. “Are you hit?”
“Just a small burn.”
The three of them hunkered down behind the railing of a fan. Zaden closed his eyes. The railings started to vibrate, the metal floor shook.
What the hell?
Zaden moved his hand and one of the fans ripped free, rising up into the air.
“Oh, my God,” she breathed.
“Go,” Zaden said. “Get out. I’ll keep them busy, and then I’ll find you.”
Maxon nodded.
The fan flew through the air and crashed into one group of the Edull.
Maxon grabbed Bellamy’s hand and they sprinted across the space, circling around another fan.
They raced out of the vent room door, and into a dark corridor.
“We need to—” Her words were cut off as electricity hit her.
Pain, like being burned alive, hit Bellamy.
She tried to scream but her throat wouldn’t work. She saw Maxon go down to his knees, electricity all over him, his eyes rolling back in his head.
Her body twitched, and she collapsed beside him.
Fuck. It hurt so bad.
A pair of black boots appeared in her line of sight, black robes brushing the tops of them. Her stomach dropped.
Vossol crouched, his breathing rasping through the valve in his red mask.
“So, we meet again. You just won’t die.”
Bellamy was certain the Edull was smiling behind his mask.
“Guess I’ll have to do the job myself.”
* * *
As three Edull guards dragged Maxon across the floor, he held on to his rage.
They’d cuffed him and taken his weapons. Well, at least the ones they could see.
The crowd in the arena roared for the bots on the track. No one was paying attention to the small, track-side platform where the Edull had dragged him and Bellamy.
His chains clanked as they winched him up. His arms were fixed above his head, and he hung there from a metal frame.
Bellamy was shoved in front of him, her chin lifted and her eyes defiant.
The Edull leader stepped in front of her.
“I’m going to kill you,” she spat at him.
Vossol glared. “How many cyborgs are here?”
She glared back.
He backhanded her.
Maxon growled and jerked. His chains rattled.
“Interesting. This cyborg is very protective of you. I thought they were devoid of emotion.” Vossol looked back at her. “How many more are here?”
Bellamy’s shoulders slumped, dejection written in every line of her body.
Maxon’s gut cramped. He’d never seen her look like that before.
“It’s just the three of us,” she said quietly.
“The other cyborg slipped out of our grasp. I assume he abandoned you once he saw that you were both captured.”
Bellamy stared at the floor and Maxon felt something move through his chest. The little actress should be on stage in the District.
“Why did you come back?” the Edull drawled.
She shot him a venomous look. “To take you and your stinking arena down.”
Vossol hit her again.
Maxon jerked and bit his tongue, tasting blood in his mouth. He was going to pound this sandsucker into the ground.
Bellamy shook her head, but didn’t look beaten. “I’m going to destroy the mag-tech.”
There was a rusty sound and Maxon realized Vossol was laughing.
“You wouldn’t have found it.”
“I will find it.”
There was determination in her voice that made the alien hesitate, then he shook his head. “You’re captured. The cyborg is in chains.”
Bellamy glanced at Maxon and their gazes met. He saw worry in her eyes.
Vossol grabbed her hair and yanked her head back. She snarled.
“You’d never have found the mag-tech because it’s hidden in plain sight.”
She stilled. “What?”
Vossol’s eyes glittered. “It’s under the track.”
Maxon saw Bellamy frown, and the Edull gave another rasping laugh.
“It’s built in under the track. I wanted it where no one would think to look for it.”
Maxon sucked in a breath. The Edull had given it away. Now, they just needed to get free.
“You can’t take us down. Not a nobody from a distant, nothing world. The Edull are strong. We keep growing our power and influence. You’re just a speck of sand under my boot.” He flicked a glance at Maxon. “You may have found some allies, but this creation can’t help you. I doubt the House of Rone will risk everything for you.”
Maxon growled. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You’re just machines. I’m going to take you apart for parts.”
Bellamy straightened. “You won’t touch him.”
Maxon’s heart squeezed. Drak, he loved that fierce look in her eyes.
The Edull shrugged a shoulder. “He’s just a cyborg.”
“He’s a talented, gifted man. He’s already suffered assholes who thought the amazing tech that saved him made him less.” Her gaze met Maxon’s. “He’s the most amazing man I’ve ever met. Even when he’s grumpy as hell, he makes me feel safe.”
Drak. Her words ran through him, filling dark spaces.
“Hmm.” The Edull made an annoyed sound and shoved her.
She fell to her knees.
“Leave her alone,” Maxon growled.
Vossol grabbed her hair again. “I’ve decided your fate, slave.”
“Fuck you,” Bellamy bit out. “I’m no one’s slave.”
The Edull leader lowered his voice. “I’m going to make you die right on the tech you wanted to destroy.”
She blinked and Maxon froze.
“What?” Bellamy said.
“I’m going to put you in a bot and make you race.”
“No!” Maxon jerked, trying to get free of the chains.
She shook her head. “Fuck you, I won’t race.”
“But I think you’ll do anything to save him.” Vossol pulled out a dagger and pressed it to Maxon’s gut. “He may be mostly machine, but I bet he still bleeds.”
Bellamy lifted her head, her face t
wisted.
“No, don’t listen to him, Bellamy,” Maxon said.
“You race, otherwise I’ll make you watch as we cut him open and pull out his parts.”
Drak, no. Maxon felt the fear and horror twist inside him. “Bellamy—”
Vossol dragged the knife over Maxon’s abdomen, and blood welled.
Bellamy’s hands curled into fists. “I’ll race.”
Chapter Seventeen
Bellamy was shoved roughly through the hatch and into the cockpit of the stocky battle bot. It had a humanoid upper body, with wheels on the bottom. Huge saws were attached to the arms on its sides.
She glanced over. Maxon hung from the chains—bleeding and bruised. They’d beaten him several times to get her to comply. His glare was hot enough to melt metal.
In the stands around them, the crowd was wild. The warm-up races were finishing.
It was time for the real deal.
Her heart pounded hard, the heavy beat echoing in her head. She prayed Jax would get there soon with the others. She couldn’t see a way out of this mess, otherwise.
But she wasn’t going to let Vossol hurt Maxon.
She’d fallen for the grumpy, antisocial, brilliant cyborg.
“Get in.”
She suffered another hard shove and stumbled into the bot. The door clanged shut behind her.
“You drive, or the cyborg dies.” Vossol peered through the slit in the door.
“I will kill you,” she whispered furiously.
The alien laughed and pulled back. “Start your engines.”
She looked out the main cockpit window at the other two bots on the track. Inside, she spotted terrified kids sitting at the controls.
She sank down behind her controls and started the bot’s engines. Her hands were shaking.
This was her worst nightmare. Race and kill the kids. Or don’t race and Maxon dies.
Dammit. She closed her eyes. She couldn’t lose him.
The other two bots tore off around the track. Bellamy fingered the controls and followed.
She did a lap, following the dips and curves of the track. The mag-tech was here somewhere, right beneath her.
She raced around the track again, and realized one of the bots was gaining on her. It crashed into hers, and she was tossed forward in her seat.
The second bot raced past.
They whizzed around, the crowd a blur. One of the bots rushed closer, chains exploding out of its chest. They whipped around and cut into her bot.
Shit. She swerved and accelerated.
The whipping chain hit again, cutting the top of her bot’s cockpit off.
Fuck. She ducked, metal fragments hitting her. Through a huge tear in her cockpit, she saw the crowd roaring its approval.
Assholes.
Her opponent sped up. She took a jump and glanced down to the center of the track. She had a clear view of the maintenance bay in the center, with several prisoners repairing crashed and damaged bots below.
She came around the track again and saw the other two bots crash into one another. One got stuck on the other, dragging behind the lead bot, sparks flying.
Bellamy looked ahead. A large ramp was embedded in the track. Her pulse spiked. The dragging bot would hit the ramp, and it would destroy the cockpit.
And kill the driver.
No. No more death.
She slammed her hands on her controls and sped up. Her engines were smoking.
The still-functional bot whipped its chains around again. Bellamy dodged to the side, barely avoiding it. She activated her saws and used them to cut off the arm of the first bot. It set the second bot free, and it spun off across the track.
She drew side-by-side with the first bot. The kid inside was sweating, terrified, his hands clenched on the controls.
“Hang on!” she shouted, knowing he probably couldn’t hear her.
“I warned you,” Vossol’s voice came through her console.
She turned her head and looked at the viewing platform.
She caught a quick glimpse of Maxon in chains. Two Edull guards were beating him with staffs as he hung there, unable to fight back.
Cowards. Her stomach clamped to a tight point and she squeezed her eyes closed for a second. She couldn’t see a way to save him, the kids, and herself.
“Maxon, I’m sorry, I’m going to be a fearless woman from Earth.” She so wanted to make him smile again. To feel him moving inside her again.
But life never gave her what she wanted.
“Find your happy, Maxon.”
Bellamy sped up, whizzing around faster as the crowd gasped.
Two new bots erupted onto the track.
She drew closer and one fired a laser at her.
She darted out of the way, then rammed it. Her saw cut its weapon off.
Bellamy’s bot took a jump and sailed through the air. Another larger jump lay ahead. She needed to time this just right.
She pushed the last drop of speed out of the bot and hit the next jump. She wrenched the controls to the right.
Her bot flew off the track and crashed into the central maintenance area.
The saw cut through several parked bots, destroying them. She prayed all the captives got out of the way.
Her bot slid sideways, and she gunned the engine. The saw cut through more bots and equipment.
She grinned. “Hard to have death races with no bots, fuckers.”
Her bot kept sliding.
The solid, metal wall appeared ahead of her, and she swallowed.
She couldn’t slow down.
She closed her eyes. “Maxon.”
Crash.
Then Bellamy didn’t feel a thing.
* * *
No. No!
Gritting his teeth through the pain, Maxon stared at the horrible, twisted wreck of the bot Bellamy had been operating.
A column of smoke rose up from it.
No.
His body was battered and bruised, and one of his eyes was swelling shut. But it was nothing compared to the pain tearing through him as he stared at the twisted ruins of the bot.
She’d destroyed all the Edull’s battle bots.
He felt a fierce pride. His fearless woman. Around him, the Edull were cursing, and Vossol’s fury filled the air.
Bellamy. Maxon waited to see her climb out of the bot.
There was no sign of her.
She could be hurt, bleeding, or—
He shut down that terrible thought, but it was hard to breathe. Bellamy was his heart. He’d never had a heart before. The synthetic organ inside him didn’t count. Bellamy was the one who had made him feel like this.
She saw him, liked him just as he was—cyborg parts, surly personality, and all.
He couldn’t lose her.
She’d survived hell—her abduction, the Edull, a life that hadn’t been easy. She deserved to live.
With a roar, he tore at the chains.
The Edull guards spun. He ripped his chains off the frame. They were still clamped around his wrists and the length of chain slid across the floor. He lifted it and swung it. He caught one of the Edull.
The guard shouted, and Maxon yanked the alien off his feet.
He turned, just as another Edull guard came at him with a staff. Maxon ducked. He knew all about staff fighting, and this Edull was not very talented.
He wrapped the chain around the staff, then kicked the Edull. As the alien staggered back, Maxon snatched the staff out of the alien’s hands.
“If you can’t use a weapon properly, you should never pick it up.” He swung the staff and it connected with the Edull’s head. The alien collapsed.
Dragging in a deep breath, Maxon turned and saw that Vossol was gone.
Drakking coward.
It didn’t matter. He needed to get to Bellamy.
He spotted one of his confiscated weapons nearby and shoved the gun in the holster in his thigh.
Maxon pressed a hand to the railing and leaped o
ver, dropping down onto the track. He landed in a crouch, his chain rattling.
The remaining battle bots had stopped on the track, kids climbing out of them.
The crowd was in disarray and upheaval. Many people poured out of the stands, while others were shouting and booing.
Maxon charged down the track. Bellamy.
He had to get to Bellamy.
As he drew closer, he saw the ruins of her bot were worse than he’d thought. His gut twisted.
He was about to leap into the maintenance area, when he heard rhythmic, clanking sounds. He spun and lifted his staff.
Several smaller bots about his size jogged in formation toward him. They had thin, metallic bodies, and blank faces, with a red strip of lights for “eyes.”
He growled. Security bots. They were all armed with long stun batons.
They circled around him. Then the batons lit up, crackling with red energy.
Maxon smiled grimly. Everything welled up inside him, growing to huge proportions. He exploded into action.
He lunged low and swung his staff. It hit the first bot hard. Left, right, whack, whack, whack. He worked different parts of the bot in quick succession.
He needed to learn their weaknesses.
As he pulled back, a bot rushed in. They crashed together, energy sparks flying. The energy weapon burned against his skin but he ignored it.
He let his anger, pain, and fear fuel him.
He fell into a rhythm, following through with a flurry of hard strikes. Metal broke and snapped. A bot fell.
Moving the weapon was natural to him. His muscles knew exactly what to do. With the image of Bellamy’s face in his head, Maxon attacked the bots in a frenzy.
These things were stopping him from getting to her.
His staff became a deadly executioner. He slashed and whacked. Fluid spilled out of the bots and onto the track.
Maxon growled. “You’ll be scrap when I’m finished. I’ll take you home and turn you into something useful.”
A bot’s energy weapon whacked against his staff.
He whirled and knocked the weapon out of the bot’s metallic hands.
It clattered to the track, and he crouched and picked it up. The red energy crackled, and he was careful to keep his hands on the handholds.
Not bad. He swung it through the air. A few tweaks and it could be awesome.
Weapons Master: Galactic Gladiators: House of Rone #6 Page 13
