Atlas Fallen

by Jessica Pierce

  Radek anticipated her first charge to the left, and he dodged sideways out of reach. Tesla grit her teeth and regrouped, all the while never taking her eyes off the other fightBot. The lights strobed overhead, bathing her and Radek in a cold glow. Even though the mech suit muffled the sound of the crowd, Tesla could still feel the power of their shouts vibrating through the floor.

  Radek swung wildly. His arm units were wing-like, each meeting at his fingertips in golden daggers. He swung again, this time with the other hand, connecting with the floor in a shower of red sparks.

  “Two minutes,” Tesla muttered to herself, ducking beneath yet another punch. Radek had always been a quick fighter; it was one of the reasons he’d survived so long without a sponsor. But fightBots were just extensions of the person inside, and every fighter had a weakness. She just needed to stay alive long enough for Blitz to analyze his movements.

  Through the speakers, she heard the others scream warnings as a weld-torch shot out of Radek’s bot, singeing the edges of her viewscreen to a blackened haze.

  “Afraid of a little fire?” Radek shouted through the vidfeed.

  Initiate firewall, she willed her suit through the bioNexus. Her fightBot obeyed the command instantly, its rusted armor unfurling to create a shield against the flame. She advanced toward Radek, using the barrier for protection until she got close enough to grasp the torch, ripping it from his suit and crushing it on the floor.

  “Blitz needs ninety seconds, Tesla,” Daxton said over the comm. “You’re doing great. Just hang in there and stay out of range.”

  Radek sprinted toward her, arms raised, and she rolled clumsily to the side. But she wasn’t fast enough; Radek’s bladed hand punctured the back of her suit, tearing a foot-wide gash into the exterior. Alarms blared within her helmet as the schematics for her suit flashed red in the damaged areas. “Easier said than done,” Tesla gasped.

  “FightBot health at fifty percent,” advised a robotic voice.

  I’ll be dead with another hit like that. Tesla limped toward the far end of the cage as Radek turned to the crowd, pumping his arms to energize those betting on his victory.

  “Sixty seconds!” Sav screamed through the speakers. “Hold him off!”

  A hose hissed in the back of her suit, spewing a heavy mist of condensation into the cockpit until her vision was completely obscured. “I can’t see him!” she shouted to the others. “Where is he?”

  “Come on, you stupid girl,” Minko snarled, his voice breaking through the comms. “Stop playing around and fight him.”

  Tesla gritted her teeth, activating her shield once more for protection. “Perhaps you’d like to come do this yourself, then?” The crime lord snorted in disgust, and she allowed herself a small smile.

  Jasmeen grabbed a mic, her voice calm and steady. “Tesla, listen to me. I’m going to be your eyes, okay? Just do what I say. Now, lower yourself into a ready stance.”

  Tesla crouched, watching Radek’s vidfeed for any clue as to his whereabouts, but only the fighter’s smug face stared back at her. He knows I can’t see through my viewscreen. Her eyes flickered toward the camera in her helmet, a small red light blinking just above its lens. Radek could see inside her bot. If he could somehow see readouts of her damage reports, it would give him yet another advantage.

  “Blitz,” she cried, “disable my vidfeed!”

  “If I do that, you’ll lose all incoming data. Radek won’t be able to see your vidfeed, but you won’t be able to see his, either.”

  “Just do it!” Tesla begged. Seconds later, the transmission faded to black.

  Jasmeen returned to the mic. “He’s easing his way toward your right, about twenty meters off. Circle to your left, but don’t back up or you’ll make contact with the cage.”

  Tesla did as instructed, her senses straining for a sound or shift in the light—any sign of Radek’s location. One of his curved talons scraped against the floor a few feet away and she jumped, sliding to the side.

  “Okay, ease toward—TESLA, JUMP AND PUNCH DOWN RIGHT NOW!”

  Her bioNexus activated the command faster than her fingers, and Tesla felt the feet of her suit leave the ground, thrusters activating momentarily to stabilize her before gravity kicked in, sending her crashing down to the floor.

  She punched blindly. The grind of metal on metal reverberated through the cockpit as her fist collided against the side of Radek’s fightBot. Her viewscreen cracked from the impact, allowing the condensation to escape. A wave of relief washed over Tesla as her vision cleared.

  “Analysis complete!” Blitz shouted. “Transferring data to your bioNexus now!”

  A shudder pulsed down Tesla’s spine as the upload synced with her nervous system. The world around her blurred, exploding into a kaleidoscope of color that wove together in slow motion.

  Radek reeled from her punch. A dozen lines hovered above him on her readout, each one giving her the probability of his most likely counterattack. Before, it would have taken her at least a minute to read through all the text, but her bioNexus processed the data instantaneously, activating her reflexes to dodge Radek’s awkward lunge.

  He stumbled, and she saw her chance. With a great heave, her mechanical arms grasped his fightBot and threw him against the cage. Electric current arced from the bars, enveloping Radek in a storm of lightning. Even through the metal of her mech suit, she could hear his twisted, piercing screams.

  The digitron strobed overhead as Toop addressed the crowd. “Point to the Red Ashes,” she declared.

  Minko’s fat arms rippled as he pumped his fists into the air. Most of the audience hissed and booed, displeased at the prospect of losing money, but a few voices shouted their support over the din. Tesla tried not to smile. Daxton beamed at her while tousling Blitz’s hair. Two points left. She could do this. She could beat Radek, win the fight, and buy herself enough time to leave the Atlas with Daxton’s help.

  Across the ring, Radek removed his damaged head unit, tossing it across the floor. His tattooed lips drew back in a sneer, a set of sharpened teeth flashing through tufts of smoke emitting from his suit. Yosef’s red face exploded with anger, his small hands gesturing toward her. She could only imagine what the drug dealer was saying.

  A vein rose against Radek’s throat as his anger grew. His eyes met her own, and she nearly stepped back from the force of his hatred; her opponent was out for annihilation, and not just that of her machine. She tensed her body for the next round.

  “Watch your sides,” Sav warned as Radek circled her like a predator ready to deliver a kill strike. Tesla acknowledged the advice with a curt nod. She knew Radek was testing her reflexes at this point—figuring out her dominant side of attack to better spot any weakness. Radek feigned a half-jump, and she fell for it, diving forward just as he countered in time to launch her backward. His wings lifted him high enough to send the talons into her chest, and Tesla rocketed across the cage and into the sizzling bars.

  She screamed. Searing pain ripped through her marrow, leaving what felt like slivers of bones in its wake. Her bioNexus kicked in, forcing her to stumble forward and clear of the electricity, but not before she doubled over in agony.

  “Tesla!” Daxton shouted. His blurry figure moved at the corner of her vision, climbing over the console to sprint toward the cage entrance.

  “K-keep him out of here,” she begged the others. “Radek will kill him if he comes close.” She thanked the stars when Sav moved quickly, yanking Daxton back into the crew pit.

  Music thundered from the digitron as Radek’s face filled the screen, followed by a roaring dragon—the emblem of the Skinners. When the music reached its peak, the dragon turned its mouth toward the crowd and roared, and a billow of fire erupted from the pyrotechnic station. The crowd crackled with its own electricity, ready to blaze into a wildfire at any moment.

  “Point to the Skinners,” Toop called above the cacophony. “Next point wins the match.”

  “You useless bitch! Get up
!” snarled Minko through the comm. “Give these people what they’ve paid for!”

  Tesla stood, but her mind felt as though she were in the vacuum of space. Her bioNexus had been knocked out of alignment. Each movement was stiff and unresponsive, the effort to move the suit nearly overwhelming her mind.

  She couldn’t fight. Not like this. When the next round began, Radek would tear her limb from limb.

  One glance in the fighter’s direction brought a new wave of panic. Other than his discarded head unit, Radek’s fightBot looked untouched. Pristine. Despite her best efforts, he’d hardly taken any damage. But that wasn’t what held her gaze. Radek stepped aside, revealing a figure she knew all too well—a person who now bore a fresh tattoo of a roaring dragon.

  No, she wanted to shout. It’s not possible.

  Kiyo was now a Skinner.

  “Fighters, take your marks,” Toop called.

  Tesla pushed Kiyo's betrayal from her mind and straightened as much as possible, though the dents in her suit prevented her from standing fully upright. Radek re-entered the cage just as the bars crackled with electricity once more.

  She expected the man to charge her in one last show of prowess, but he didn’t move. Instead, gears screeched as a second pair of wings unfurled from his back, reaching toward the digitron like Death come to claim her. With a great flap of metal, he soared from the ground and dove toward her.

  Tesla blocked his first advance, but Radek was fast—too fast. He circled back around and grabbed her chestplate with his curved feet, snatching her into the air.

  “Time to die, ghost,” he laughed. He soared upward near the top of the cage, dangling Tesla over the floor like carrion. Below her, Tesla could see the others screaming frantically. The viewscreen flashed red throughout the cockpit.

  “DANGER: FATAL ALTITUDE,” the mechanical voice repeated over and over.

  Radek’s talons began ripping the metal from her suit piece by piece, flaying her skin as the blades connected with her body. She struck wildly, landing a glancing blow against his stomach that only made him laugh.

  “Minko should have spent more to keep you alive. Money wins, sweetheart, every time.” A serrated wingtip sliced across her hairline. “Too bad my boss wants me to crush your pretty little skull. Such a waste.”

  Tesla’s heart pounded. The skull. Blitz’s emergency plan. She closed her eyes, summoning any remaining strength left in her bioNexus connection, and activated the protocol. The mechanisms in her suit grinded against one another through the damage, growing louder as hidden gears rumbled into place.

  Then a sudden motion shocked the entire arena.

  Radek’s eyes widened. His head bowed as he examined the giant spike piercing his abdomen. Blood poured from his mouth, dripping onto Tesla’s viewscreen. “If I die, y-you die,” he gurgled. He tightened his grip on her body and beat his wings, vaulting them both into the roof of the cage.

  His suit acted as a conductor, sending the electricity pouring through her once more. She screamed, but the cries leaving her body sounded too high-pitched and animalistic to be human. Radek’s lifeless body trembled from the force of the current, his eyes staring blankly into the crowd.

  Tesla’s vision tunneled, and she realized the voltage had stopped. Her mind barely registered as they fell, tumbling together in a tangle of titanium and steel toward the floor. Just before impact, she managed to pull Radek’s wings around her body and activate her shield.

  The breath left her body upon impact. Blood stung her eyes, though she wasn’t certain if it was her own. The smell of burning circuitry scorched her nostrils, and she realized her head unit had been torn away. Somewhere in the tangle of the two fightBots, a fire ignited. She pushed with all her remaining strength, tumbling away from Radek’s glossy-eyed stare.

  Every atom of her body trembled. She looked to the others, whose shocked expressions mirrored her own.

  I’ve won.

  A hush swept the arena. The silence was so intense Tesla could hear the blood pumping heavily in her ears. Cries of indignation sparked one by one throughout the stands as the heaviest betters wailed bitterly against the loss.

  Across the cage, Kiyo scowled, exiting back through his team’s entrance.

  Daxton took off toward her, barely waiting for the electricity in the cage to fully subside before sliding to a halt by her side. “Tesla, can you hear me?” He gently removed the comm around her head, releasing a wild knot of sooty hair.

  “Mmm,” was all she could manage.

  Daxton’s fingers searched for the button to release her from the suit, and he peeled off the remaining pieces, taking care to disconnect her bioNexus without causing any damage. “You did it, Tes. You beat him.”

  Sav appeared over the prince’s shoulder, scanning her body with a medical device. He shook his head in disbelief. “She has a few contusions, and definitely a concussion, but otherwise there’s no internal bleeding or bone damage. Blitz will have to run diagnostics on the bioNexus, but I think she’s going to be fine.” He trotted back to tell the others, leaving her and Daxton alone.

  “Tesla, I...” he began, brushing shrapnel from her hair. “I can’t believe I didn’t stop you from getting in the suit, all for some stupid plan. If anyone should have agreed to go in that ring, it should have been me.”

  Tesla laughed, wincing at the sharp pain in her ribs. “You can’t even dodge Cerise. How would you last a single minute in a fightBot match?”

  Before Daxton could reply, they both turned. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Gone were the indignant cries from those who had lost their bets, replaced by something more akin to rage. The stands were erupting into fights as people demanded refunds of their corpCredits. Groups of Skinners and Red Ashes pressed into the crowd, striking down those who dared defy them. The spectators surged forward, engulfing Blitz, Jasmeen, and Sav from view.

  “We have to go,” said Tesla. “Your disguise has almost worn off. We have to get you out of here before you’re recognized. Any one of these slugs would be happy to hold you hostage.” She tried to stand, but gasped in pain when her right leg refused to hold any weight.

  “Come here,” Daxton said, lifting her easily. “Don’t let go.” Tesla shielded herself against his chest as he ran from the riot.

  She pointed to the staircase they’d used to enter the arena. “Over there!”

  Richie spectators from Earth stood, horrified, as the crowd descended into madness. A balding man in thick spectacles plowed into them, nearly tearing Tesla from the prince’s arms. But Daxton didn’t relent; the muscles in his shoulders strained against his shirt as he carried her up the staircase to safety. He retraced their steps back to the Gulch, careful to avoid the security forces patrolling during curfew.

  After what seemed like an hour, Tesla sighed in relief at the sight of her apartment door. Daxton lowered her until she stood, now able to at least limp along. The voltage absorbed by her bioNexus would wreak havoc on her body for days.

  Daxton brushed a piece of hair from her damp forehead, cupping her chin in his hands. The disguise was gone, and every line of his face was once again elegant and smooth. “You terrified me tonight, you know. I thought I’d lost you.”

  A wave of heat crashed over her body. “Daxton, I—”

  “Tesla.” Her name was a whisper across his lips. He lowered his mouth to meet hers, gently at first, but then harder, his worry evident in the way his hand cupped her neck and drew her close.

  The current of the cage had nothing on the electricity now coursing through her veins, and Tesla pressed herself against him. She returned the kiss, every atom in her body wanting to be closer. Daxton groaned softly, parting her lips to deepen the embrace. They lost themselves in the moment until Tesla heard footsteps getting closer.

  She pushed him away with a start. “You have to leave.”

  Confusion washed over Daxton’s face as he pulled away. “I-I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I thought you wanted—”

  B
ut Tesla could sense they were no longer alone. Had Yosef sent someone to finish the job? She couldn’t risk putting Daxton in danger, especially without Jasmeen and the others here to help protect him. “You can’t be here,” she insisted, pushing him away. “You need to go back above the deimark where you belong.”

  The muscles in his jaw flexed, and his eyes shifted from a look of warmth to one of cold disconnect. “I expected to hear those words from other people, Tesla, but never from you.”

  Before she could explain—could tell him that she only wanted to keep him safe—he left, his footsteps echoing down the stairs. Tesla watched him go, craning her neck until the very last sight of him was swallowed by the darkness of the Gulch.

  TWENTY

  AFTER A BRIEF SEARCH OF THE DORMS for any sign of who might have been watching them, fatigue had eventually overwhelmed her, and she’d retreated to the safety of her apartment. However, in the silence of her rooms, the current still permeating her body made her unable to sleep. The hackchip rotated between her fingers—the same one she’d used to gain access to the dataport during the lux party upstation.

  With all the time she’d spent preparing for the fight, there had been no time to figure out her father’s last words. Not for the first time she wondered what her life would be like if she were able to clear the Petrov name. There was a chance Commander Grey would make reparations and grant her a free space jump to the planet’s surface so she could start over. And perhaps, just perhaps, things with Daxton could be different.

  Like that would really happen, she chided herself. Cerise had money, fame, looks, and status. And what did she have to offer? Street smarts? Half-decent welding technique? Not exactly skills that would fit in at the New London palace.

  Not to mention the way Daxton had looked when she’d tried to get him to go back upstation. It was a huge misunderstanding, but one she felt had made their connection even more tenuous.

  Something scraped against her apartment door, and Tesla froze. How many people had Yosef sent to finish her off? She crouched, her body protesting as she grabbed a knife from the kitchen. The vidfeed on her door panel showed an empty stoop, but the scratching sound continued. Then, ever so quietly, a small voice cried out.