Justin's laser stabbed deep into the Griffin 'sheart. Fire boiled through the 'Mech's chest, spitting out pieces of melted and broken circuit boards. The 'Mech wavered and stumbled back, but Armstrong fought to gain control. Reaching back with its left hand, the Griffin steadied itself as fire geysered from its torso.

Justin waited for the canopy to split and for Armstrong to eject. The 'Mech is lost! Your engine's shielding is gone! Get out!He watched the Griffin 'sLRM canister swivel toward the Centurion,then cant back as the 'Mech went out of control. Instead of flying at Justin, a full flight of LRMs launched into the ceiling.

The Griffin 'sblack faceplate exploded outward. Flames spouted from it as though the Griffin were a fire-breathing monster. Again the LRM canister blasted away blindly at the ceiling. Debris and ferrocrete crashed down in huge chunks onto the Griffin .Unsteadied, Armstrong's Griffin dropped straight down, as though its legs had been suddenly cut from under it. It now leaned back pitifully against the Factory's ferrocrete wall.

Justin shook his head slowly. If not for the fires burning in its chest and head, the huge 'Mech might have resembled a man sleeping peacefully against the wall. Justin balled his Centurion'sleft hand into a fist. Perhaps someday I, too, will know such peace.

23

Solaris VII (The Game World)

Rahneshire, Lyran Commonwealth

20 March 3027

Noton tossed Justin a towel as he came out of the cleaner. "Risky business substituting the Pontiac 100 for the Luxor," he said, seating himself on the narrow wooden bench beside Justin's locker. "Doubles your firepower, but severely cuts your range. Especially because you sacrificed your LRMs of it. Yen-lo-wangis a fine infighter, and the surprise worked well in the Factory, but anyone else will kill you with LRMs and PPC fire."

Justin finished drying off and wrapped the towel around his waist. He pressed it to himself with his inert left hand while he tucked it in with his right. "Calculated risk, Gray. That's something you understand, isn't it?"

Noton leaned back against the wall. "I don't know that I follow you ..."

Justin smiled and swung open his locker door. He reached in and pulled a plastic comb from the top shelf, then pressed it into his left hand and painstakingly sculpted the fingers to hold the comb securely. Watching himself in the fly-blown mirror, he used it to slick down his hair.

"Gray, I've only been here a month, but I know your type."

Noton raised an eyebrow. "My type?"

Justin nodded. "You know that fighting in the Arenas is a dead end. You've not fought in a while—or so the record of public fights shows—but you've got a Typhoon and powerful friends. You're shrewd." Justin looked over at the information broker. "I'd like to think I'm shrewd, too."

A third voice broke in on the conversation. "It wasn't too shrewd, Xiang, to ignore our advice to you about the fight."

Justin turned and lowered his hand. Three men—two large men flanking a smaller, slightly older man—stood just inside the door. The smaller man chomped on a cigar and pointed a thick finger at Justin. "You cost me money tonight."

Justin shook his head. "Youcost you money tonight. I told you I'd not throw the fight. You should have listened."

"No, Xiang, youshould have listened." The little man snapped his fingers. Balling their fists, his twin goons stepped forward. "Rock, Jeff, tear his arm off and break his legs with it."

Justin dropped into a crouch and swept in toward the two thugs. Leaping up, he snapped a kick to Rock's face. With his jaw shattered and his nose leaking blood, Rock toppled backward. Collapsing like a rag doll, he smacked his head hard on the ferrocrete floor.

When Jeff swung a fist at Justin, the MechWarrior grabbed the thug's wrist with his right hand and lifted it up and over his own head. Without relinquishing his grip, Justin pivoted beneath the hoodlum's arm and brought the wrist twisting back with him. Justin locked the arm, then snapped his own left forearm down on Jeff's elbow. The joint cracked audibly as it broke, but the thug's scream of pain swallowed the sound.

Justin released the goon and vaulted over the other incapacitated hood. He grabbed the small man by the throat and drove him back to the wall. Twisting his own hip so that the man could not kick or knee him, he waited until his foe's labored breath was the only sound either of them could hear.

Justin stared mercilessly into the smaller man's eyes. "Listen to me now, because I will not tell you again. If you ever try to fix one of my fights, I will ruin you financially, then I'll kill you in degrees." Justin raised his left hand and wished, for a moment, that the comb had dropped away during the fight. "I've picked up soldiers in a 'Mech's hand, and I know how delicate those devices can be. I also know how rough they can get. I assure you that you don't want to have personal knowledge of their roughness, ni you dong!"

The bookie shook his head fervently. "I understand, wo dong."

Justin smiled coldly and relaxed his grip. "Hao. Zou kai yi-jing!"He released the man and jerked a thumb at the two goons.

"And take them with you. I never want to see you again. If I do, I'll kill you."

Noton refrained from laughing as Jeff and the bookie dragged the unconscious thug from the room. He sputtered a chuckle when the door finally shut behind them, then shook his head. "I thought you said you were shrewd. Now, how was that shrewd?"

Justin pulled on a blue and black silken coat, which hung to just below the waistband of his black trousers. He carefully adjusted the cuff of the left sleeve over the glove covering his metal hand, then tied the blue sash around his waist and let the long ends dangle down at his left hip. Pulling on his boots, he looked over at Noton.

"That will make the Federats here on Solaris more angry. It guarantees me more fights and larger purses. You and I both know that fights here are not combats as much as they are theatrical spectacles. If I'm to fight battles with high purses, I have to be someone that the spectators can either love or hate. Doing things to make the Federats' blood boil is money in the bank."

Noton stood. "Is that why you've taken up with Kym?"

Justin smiled and nodded acknowledgment of Noton's perception. "You mean, has the idea of a Capellan lying with a Davion woman—and the anger it must arouse in men like Capet—ever occurred to me? I'd be lying if I said no." Justin looked up. "You realize, of course, that she sought me out for the same reason, don't you?"

Noton nodded. "I saw that from the first."

"I'm sure you did." Justin swung his rusty locker shut and spun the combination. "We both started out using each other to get back at the people in the Federated Suns." Justin smiled sheepishly. "But, as exiles, we share a bond that seems to knit us together tightly. Back in the Federated Suns, I'd never have gotten to know her, but now I believe I may actually be in love with her."

"I envy you," Noton said with a smile. Then he opened the locker room door for Justin. "Kym's bringing my Typhoon around. Next stop, Valhalla!"

* * *

The darkened glass door opened onto a silent Valhalla as Noton, Justin, and Kym approached. MechWarriors were seated up and down the length of the tables running through the center of the long hall. Each had his head bent forward, as though in prayer. Up on the dais, sandwiched between Billy Wolfson and Philip Capet, a chair sat hidden beneath a shroud of black satin.