by Susan Hayes
Re’veth. She was breathtaking. Tall and lean, with long legs and the grace of a predator, the woman made her way to the ring. She laughed as she walked, though he couldn’t hear her over the roar of the crowd as they welcomed their favorite fighter back. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her.
“Now that’s one hot woman,” he murmured. Surprisingly, Jaeger agreed.
“Yes, she is.”
For the second time tonight, Toro half expected angels to start singing. First, steak and now Yeager was actually noticing an attractive woman? Miracles abounded.
“Did you see the smile on her face? She loves this. The fighting, the rush, all of it.”
Jaeger scoffed. “Which means she’s as crazy as you are. Maybe crazier since she’s an owner and is clearly making enough money she doesn’t have to fight. She’s in there because she wants to be. That’s a special kind of lunatic.”
“I know. I think I’m a little in love with her already, and we haven’t even said hello yet,” Toro said, still fixated on the beautiful warrior as she entered the ring.
“She’s probably married to the other owners. They’re supposed to be cloned twins, right? Get your mind out of the bedroom and back in the game. The match is about to start, and if we’re lucky, you might be fighting one of these guys soon.”
“I’m watching. I can multi-task, you know.”
“Prove it, what color are her opponents wearing?” Jaeger asked.
“One’s in green and white, the other’s wearing red. She’s in blue and silver, and judging by the décor in here, that’s the club’s official color scheme,” Toro replied before flipping his middle finger up at his best friend. He might have been created to be cannon fodder, but even basic models like him were given enough brains to be able to track the smallest detail of their surroundings at all times. He wasn’t the fastest or the smartest cyborg ever created, but he was a fighter, one who had survived almost a decade of battle.
“Hey, you know I was only giving you a hard time, right?” Jaeger asked.
Toro turned to face his friend. “Yeah, I know. It’s just…” he shrugged. People had treated him like an idiot for the first ten years of his life. Everyone from the lab monkeys who’d help create him, to his commanding officers, to some of his fellow soldiers had assumed he was all brawn and no brain.
“I know. How about I make it up to you by letting you get in a few good hits the next time we spar?” Jaeger offered.
Toro laughed. “Like I need you to let me smack you. Over ten years since you came out of the maturation tank and you still can’t dodge worth shit. It’s a miracle you lived through the war, my friend.”
“I wouldn’t have if you hadn’t saved my ass.”
“Which time?” he raised his glass to his batch brother and best friend.
“All of ‘em.”
A bell sounded, and his attention swung back to the fight. Their seats were close enough he could see the action, but he wanted to get closer. He wanted to watch Cynder in action and see if she was as good as he suspected. Up against two men, she had to be.
“I’ll be back after the fight. I want to see this,” he said, rising from the table.
“If you’re not back by the time your steak gets here, I’ll assume you suddenly became a vegetarian and eat yours for you.”
“Touch my dinner and I’ll have to hurt you. I won’t be gone long. If the food arrives before I do, send me a message.” Toro tapped his temple. All cyborgs were created in batches and left their maturation tanks at the same time. Batch siblings trained and fought together. They all shared a certain amount of DNA, and they were linked together by internal communications. He and Jaeger still shared an internal comm-channel. At one time, all of their siblings had been part of the network, but now it was only the two of them.
He headed toward the ring, using his size to push through the crowd until he was right where he wanted to be. Close enough to see every move, but far enough back to still be able to watch the whole ring instead of only a piece of it. Hopefully, he would be facing off against these fighters someday soon, and he wanted to get a look at their tactics.
He didn’t get much time to observe. The fight came to an abrupt end within a few minutes. The two matched up against Cynder weren’t working together. Instead of keeping their opponent pressed and off-balance, they kept trying to take her on one-on-one, and it cost them the match.
Her speed was impressive, and she moved with such precision and grace it was obvious she had been created for something other than straight melee fighting. He couldn’t be sure, but she was probably designed for stealth or infiltration of some kind. The gleam in her eyes as she fought told him that whatever her original purpose might have been, she was a kindred spirit when it came to fighting in the ring.
He had always hoped that one day he might find a woman who could accept his love of fighting. Never once had he considered he might actually meet a woman who felt the same thrill. Not until tonight.
Cynder finished off her last opponent with a roundhouse kick that sent him crashing to the mat. The crowd roared in approval while all around him scrip changed hands as bets were settled. The moment she was declared the winner, the fire faded from Cynder’s eyes, and she went over to check on the man she had knocked out. Toro watched in surprise as she helped carry the injured man out of the cage. Despite her gift for violence, she still had her compassion.
Tonight was full of surprises.
He made it back to the table a few seconds before their meals arrived, complete with fresh mugs of beer.
“Good fight,” Jaeger said.
“It could have been better if they’d worked together instead of letting their egos get in the way. They made it easy for her.” He sliced off a piece of steak and ate it slowly, savoring every second. “Veth. If the rest of the menu is as good as this, I vote we make this our new home and never leave.”
Jaeger bit into his steak and moaned. “I second that vote. Now, we need to hope the club’s owners are willing to hire you on as a fighter while I work the gaming tables.”
Toro knew what the answer would be, but he made the suggestion anyway. One day, Jaeger would have to face his demons. “You could always sign on as a fighter. You’re not as good as me, mind you, but you’re not bad.”
“Damned by faint praise. I could kick the ass of almost any fighter on the Drift if I wanted to. Present company excluded.”
“You should probably include Cynder on that list, too. She’d eat you alive, and not in a fun way.”
Jaeger looked back toward the ring, and a ghost of a smile touched his lips. “Yeah, but I can think of worse ways to go. Not that it’s going to happen. I’ve done enough fighting in my life already. I’d rather lug space rocks around then step into the ring. You’re stronger than I am, T.”
Toro ate in silence. He knew his batch brother carried the weight of every life he had taken while they were soldiers. When they had left service, Jaeger had made a personal vow to never hurt another being ever again. Toro also knew from experience there was nothing he could do to ease his friend’s burden. In the years since they had been granted status as human beings and not corporate property, they had both struggled to come to terms with their past while trying to find a future for themselves.
So far, they hadn’t been completely successful in either task, but they kept trying. What other choice did they have?
CHAPTER TWO
Cyn was still flying high after her win as she grabbed a quick shower and got dressed. She would celebrate properly later, likely with a few drinks with her brothers and Zura. For now, though, she needed to switch gears back to management mode. She glanced at her watch and swore. She was supposed to meet with a prospective fighter in less than two minutes, and she had left her data tablet with his information in her office. Times like this, she was grateful for her cybernetic implants. She had read the file before, which meant she could simply retrieve the information from her memory banks on her way to the m
eeting.
“Veth. This is what happens when you let yourself get distracted,” she scolded herself as she ran a hand through her hair, making the short strands stand up in damp spikes. She took a quick glance at her reflection in the mirror to assess her appearance; it would have to do. Her right cheek was still red and puffy where Frey had managed to land a lucky blow. Twenty minutes ago, it had been bruised, and in another twenty minutes, the microscopic medi-bots she carried in her blood would have it healed completely. Unfortunately, she didn’t have twenty minutes. Her meeting was in two—Fraxx. More like one minute now. Still, it wasn’t like a fighter wasn’t going to be distressed over a little bruising. If he was, then he wasn’t going to be up to Nova’s standards, anyway.
She turned on her heel and left, power-walking the distance from her quarters back to the entrance to the bar. Some days she wished she lived farther away from the noise and mayhem of the club, but there were times the shorter distance came in handy— like when she ran late. Not to mention the fact that every square foot of space in the Drift came at a cost. It was far cheaper for them to live at the club than to pay their corporate landlord even more scrip to live elsewhere.
She re-entered the crowded club without slowing her stride. Her appointment was supposed to meet her at the main bar. She wove through the sea of patrons as she accessed her internal memory drive and scanned it for the pertinent information. She normally tried not to rely on her cybernetic enhancements, but she did make exceptions when they were needed. It wasn’t something she made a habit of though. It only served as a reminder to the other races, especially normal humans, that she was different from them.
Her appointment’s name was Toro, and he was a cyborg. No surname listed, which wasn’t uncommon among her brethren. The corporations that created them officially identified them by the barcode imprinted on their left wrist. Most of them were given names by the lab techs, as names were easier to remember than a string of numbers, but there was no need for last names. She and her brothers, Kit and Luke, had adopted the last name of Armas after they had been freed. According to Luke’s research, it meant weapon in one of Earth’s ancient languages. It suited them perfectly.
She continued her review, coming up with a photograph of a man who appeared to be in his early thirties with wavy, auburn hair, and dark skin. He was good looking, which was always a bonus. The fans might appreciate talent, but they tended to bet heavier when the fighter was attractive, too.
She approached the bar and spotted Toro immediately. He was as handsome as his picture promised. He stood about six-foot-seven, which made him stand out from most of the other customers. Most, but not all. Standing beside him was another tall, good-looking man with similar coloring and a physique almost as impressive as Toro’s. The other man had darker hair and a closely trimmed beard, but they still looked similar enough that Cyn’s instincts told her they were likely from the same creation batch. She didn’t have anything on the second man, which meant he hadn’t put in an application as a fighter. Interesting.
They were both watching her approach, and her heart gave an unfamiliar flutter at being the focus of so much male attention. It had been a while since any man had made her heart beat faster.
She walked up to Toro and held out her hand. “You must be Toro. I’m Cynder Armas, one of the Nova Club’s owners.”
Toro took her hand in his and shook it firmly, holding on a few seconds more than was necessary. When he released her, his thumb caressed the back of her hand. “Nice to meet you, Cynder. I’m Toro, and this is my batch brother, Jaeger. We’ve been here for a while, enjoying your club.”
“Hi there. I’d like to welcome you both to Club Nova. Since you’ve both had time to look around, what’s been your favorite thing so far? The gaming, the tables, the drinks, or maybe the food?”
“It’s a toss-up. The steaks were amazing, but I caught your fight earlier. Now, I’d say watching you in the ring beats out everything else,” Toro said.
The compliment made her smile and helped to distract her from the lingering memory of his thumb sweeping across her skin. “Thank you. I had a good night tonight. I wouldn’t be insulted if you ranked the steak above me, though. It’s incredibly good.”
“I called Toro a liar when he told me it was on the menu. How are you managing to get real beef all the way out here?” Jaeger asked.
Cyn touched her forefinger to her lips. “Club secret. All I can say is that it’s incredibly useful to have your business partners marry a freighter pilot with a lot of connections.”
“I imagine it’s very useful. As for me, I think my favorite thing so far has been watching how you and your partners run the gaming operations: Good odds, fair payouts, skilled dealers. I’m impressed. Your fight was impressive, too. You do that often?”
“I don’t get into the ring often, no. Maybe once every few weeks. I handle the hiring and finances for the club, which means I spend a lot of time at my desk. The fighting gives me a way to blow off a little steam.” Cyn inclined her head toward the nearest staff entrance. “If you’d like to come with me, we can discuss things in my office where it’s quieter.”
“Of course.” Toro took the lead, clearing a path through the crowd.
Jaeger gestured for her to follow Toro and fell in behind her, making her the filling in a rather tempting sandwich. Not that she would allow herself to be tempted. For one, she was likely going to offer Toro a contract to fight for the club, which meant for the next month at least, he was technically an employee. There wasn’t a hard and fast rule about dating staff members, but it made a handy, and logical, excuse. Then there was the real reason she kept her distance from every man she met: personal preference. She hadn’t slept with anyone since being freed from service. Now she had the right to choose, she invariably chose to be alone.
When they reached the door Toro stood aside so she could open it, then both of them followed her out of the noise and crush of the club.
“My office is at the end of the corridor. We should be more comfortable there.”
Jaeger stepped through the door, happy to have left the crowd behind for a time. He wanted to see what kind of operation Cynder and her partners ran behind the scenes. What he saw was surprising. Apart from the muffled sounds of the kitchen, things were quiet, and the corridor they’d stepped into was almost empty. A solitary staff member jogged down the hall ahead of them with a keg of beer on one shoulder.
All the doors they passed were clearly labeled, and the halls were clean and clear as far as he could see. He had seen medical centers that were less organized and sanitized than this place.
Toro looked around and whistled low. “Shiny. Not like that last place, right Jaeg? The last place we worked had roaches so big I’m still not sure they weren’t deliberately growing them to supplement their meat supply.”
Cynder glanced over her shoulder, her face twisted into an expression of disgust.
“That’s a horrifying thought. What’s the name of the place so I can make sure I never set foot in it?” she asked.
“The Cargo Hold. It’s on the Ortan Station near the middle of the Drift,” Toro said.
Cynder’s lip curled in distaste. “I’ve been to Ortan. They need to condemn that whole platform and launch it into the nearest star. The last time I was there I saw a bug as big as a dinner plate. It might have been a spider, but the fraxxing thing was moving too fast for me to be sure. I don’t plan on going back. Ever.”
“Not a fan of spiders?” Jaeger asked.
“Not unless I can blast them to atoms. Since Corp-Sec gets bent out of shape whenever someone discharges a firearm, that’s not really an option. Me, I would be happy to sacrifice a little hull integrity if it meant killing every eight-legged creature on the Drift.” Cynder stopped outside a door with her name on it. “We’re here. Come on in.”
Once they were inside, Jaeger took a seat and glanced around the office, doing his best to avoid staring at Cynder. He had been trying to ignore
the stirrings of interest she aroused in him from the moment he had seen her in the ring, but it was a fight he already knew he was going to lose. She was everything he liked in a woman and then some.
Her short hair showed off the sculpted lines of her face, and her green eyes sparkled with humor. She had a jagged scar on the right side of her jaw, but it did nothing to detract from her beauty. If anything, it added to the aura of confidence and danger swirling around her. At a few inches over six feet tall, she was average height for a female cyborg, but there was nothing else average about her. Her blue sleeveless top fitted her perfectly, revealing a lean, athletic body with enough curves to make a man take notice.
He was tempted to make a play for her even if she was about to be Toro’s de facto boss. It was already obvious to him that Toro was interested. His brother hadn’t taken his eyes off Cynder since she had met them at the bar.
The office was a reflection of the woman who worked there. The furnishings were simple; it had minimal decoration and a basic black and gray color scheme. There were several holo-pics on the wall. One showed Cynder and what appeared to be her twin sister standing beside a pair of twinned cyborg men. They were all in standard combat gear, arm-in-arm and laughing. The next picture was of Cynder and the same two men. They were standing in front of the doors of the Nova Club in matching blue shirts with the club’s logo emblazoned on them. The men had to be her business partners, but where was her sister?
“How much experience do you have in the ring, Toro?”
Cynder’s question brought Yeager’s thoughts back to the present.
“I started fighting about six months after we were released from service. It’s what I was made for. All my programming and abilities are combat focused. No secondary skills,” Toro said with a shrug.
“None?”
Cynder looked surprised, which was understandable. Most cyborgs were created with a primary mission and at least one secondary set of skills and abilities. Toro was an experiment in more ways than one.