Sidling over to another bulkhead support, Phelan shrugged again. "I am all yours, Dean."

The Elemental launched himself at Phelan, his powerful legs accelerating him smoothly. Fists cocked, he came in like a rocket. His grin grew as he sailed in, then faded when Phelan sprang up and away from the floor. With no target to cushion his charge, Dean crashed into the deck.

Phelan retained his grip on the reinforcement girder and his leap took him up and to the right. He let himself swing all the way around so his feet his the bulkhead on the other side of the girder. Clinging to the wall, he pushed off again and reversed his swing, snapping his heels down into Dean's shoulder blades. He jammed the larger man into the deck, then kicked off from the Elemental's broad back and twisted into the air.

Dean pounded a fist into the deck, but grabbed the reinforcement bar as he started to drift up. He spun quickly, spraying blood globules from his nose and mashed lips through the air. "Damn you, Phelan. Stand still and fight like a Warrior."

Reaching his hands above his head to soften the impact with the upper deck, Phelan laughed aloud. "Stop thinking of me as a freebirth, Dean. I am a Warrior and a member of House Ward. Think any less of me than you would think of Vlad, and you don't stand a chance."

"I will crush you!"

Phelan pointed at him. "Put it this way, Dean: I outbid you and now you have to fight at a disadvantage."

Part of that taunt got through to Dean. He slowly began to ascend, keeping one hand on the reinforcement girder. He reached out with his free hand and clawed menacingly at the air as he worked his way upward. "When I get my hands on you, it will be all over." Dean's derisive snort blew a spray of blood down his chest.

Phelan's mouth went sour. His early attacks had taken advantage of Dean's ignorance of the battlefield and his lack of respect for Phelan's fighting skills. Evantha had put Phelan through his paces in unarmed combat training, but most other MechWarriors disdained fistfighting. Though he had hoped, especially with Dean's dive, that the Elemental might knock himself out on the deck, he knew that was unlikely.

Phelan knew that zero gravity destroyed the hideous hitting power in Dean's muscles. At the same time, it also made any attack Phelan might choose less effective. Dean was not going to let Phelan trick him again, nor would he give him another missile-like attack.

The only way to beat Dean was to do what he wanted: get in close. Though Phelan's rational mind acknowledged the wisdom of that strategy, something in his soul recoiled at the idea of grappling with that monster. Blood and sweat glistened on Dean's body, and muscles moved smoothly beneath taut flesh.

He's a python waiting to crush me!

As Dean gathered his legs beneath him to spring, Phelan gently pushed off the upper deck and started to float down. Dean released his grip on the reinforcement girder and shifted around to push himself straight at Phelan. He launched cautiously and kept his arms outstretched expectantly.

Phelan whipped his legs up and tucked his torso down into a ball. The movement started him spinning in a backward somersault, but he kicked out just as Dean came in range. His feet clipped Dean's left ear with a glancing blow, killing Dean's downward momentum and starting him into a flat spin. At the same time, Phelan tossed his head back and arched his spin so he came out of his tumble with Dean's legs in easy reach.

Phelan grabbed Dean's ankle and pulled himself up. Twisting the larger man, and starting them both to spin, Phelan used the Elemental's waistband to haul himself higher up, then settled on Dean's back like a leech. He wrapped his legs around the man's middle, then snaked his left arm around the man's bull neck.

The blow to his head had dazed Dean, but he came out of it full of fight. Immediately he tried to jam an elbow back at Phelan, but his own broad frame made the blow miss wide. Still, it imparted a twist to the two pf them, setting them spinning crazily through the hold. Dean's left hand tore at Phelan's arm, but the MechWarrior held on tightly.

As soon as he realized Phelan was not trying to break his neck, and had failed to crush his windpipe, the Elemental shifted the focus of his attack. He kicked his legs to increase the spin and bring them closer to a bulkhead. His nostrils flared with exertion and blood splashed down on Phelan's arm. He smashed his fists into Phelan's legs, punishing the MechWarrior for his audacity.

Phelan pulled his legs free and twisted up and away from Dean's torso. He tightened his grip, determined not to lose it. Dean reached up and grabbed at Phelan's head. Phelan ducked it down closer to Dean's head, then tensed his stomach muscles and brought his right knee down into Dean's spine.

"Arrgghhh!" Breath hissed sharply from Dean's mouth. "Idiot, you can't even choke me right!"

Before Phelan could reply, the rotation caused by his knee in Dean's back brought the Elemental's legs within striking distance of the upper deck. Dean kicked off hard, shooting them both down at the deck. They hit solidly, Dean's bulk crushing Phelan against the floor. They drifted up again, but Dean kicked off and sent them at another bulkhead.

Again they hit, with Dean's shoulder battering its way into Phelan's ribs. The MechWarrior groaned aloud and the Elemental managed a harsh laugh. "Weakling! Kill me, break my neck or I crush you!"

"Not here to kill you, Dean. Just here for the ride."

"Then you get your wish."

Dean managed to grab a girder and whipped his back against the bulkhead, hammering Phelan into it. He reared back to do the same thing again, but Phelan planted his right leg firmly against the wall. Dean pulled his own body back into Phelan's knee, which tore a cough from the big man.

Instantly the giant tried to shift in Phelan's grip, then twisted forward, trying to smack Phelan's head against the girder. Phelan hunkered in close, keeping his head down. He tightened his grip one more time and braced himself against being driven back into the bulkhead, but Dean let go of the girder.

He knows!Dean clawed weakly at Phelan's arm. His fingers dug into the Mech Warrior's muscles, leaving deep bruises, but Phelan never let go. It felt as if Dean were trying to strip his arm clean, layer by layer, of flesh and muscle, but Phelan clung to him like a tattoo. It's too late, ithas to be too late.

Dean's struggles faltered, then ceased altogether. Phelan hung on for another ten seconds, then pushed the Elemental away from him. The man drifted up and away while Phelan grabbed the support girder. Phelan looked over toward the hatchway, then kicked off and floated over to it. He hit a button on the intercom. "It is over. Dean is defeated."

The hatchway slid open to reveal Natasha standing there. She smiled broadly. "I watched on the monitors. I was impressed, though you could have ended it sooner by breaking his neck."

"No need." A shudder rippled through the ship as the Captain applied some thrust. With the return of apparent gravity, Phelan suddenly felt the weakness in his legs and the weariness in his body. "There is no reason to kill when it's not necessary. My job was to defeat him, not kill him."

Phelan pointed to where Dean drifted down toward the deck. "He kept trying to figure what I would do, based on what he would do. He thought I was choking him or trying to break his neck. But I was using the naked-strangle technique Evantha taught me, and I cut off his carotid artery. All I had to do was hang on while his brain shut down from lack of oxygen."

Natasha nodded approvingly. "You do know, don't you, that the other fifteen first-round fights in this Bloodname fight ended with eight fatalities."