The Mech Touch novel Chapter 276

A pair of light mechs matched blows against each other in a grungy underground mech arena. The skirmisher mech wielded a pair of knives while the swordsman mech wielded a single blade.

A rowdy crowd exulted in the reverberations of the high speed impacts between the dueling mechs. Only the thick but cracked and worn out transparent panels protected them from the splintering shards of plating that the mechs shaved off from each other.

One thing to note about the people was that they all wore similar color motifs. The lower ranked crowd wore shirts of red striped with diagonal black lines. The ranks above that made do with armbands of the same look, while the handful of leaders at the top wore exotic alloy rings that glistened in alternating red and black.

More interestingly, the mechs, which featured the same coating of red with diagonal black stripes, consisted of outdated models. Neither their armor nor their speed could keep up with currentgen mechs, but that also made them cheap and easy to fabricate on the fly.

From the reckless way in which they dueled, neither pilots gave a damn about conserving their machines. They danced at the edge of death in their reckless attempts to overpower their opposition.

"Come on Raella!" Dietrich hollered. "Go for Mackarel’s left! He’s half-blind in that direction!"

Like the others, he wore an armband bearing the colors of the Blood Claws, one of the most infamous gangs in Bentheim. Even though his main affiliation lay with Walter’s Whalers, he answered to the same boss as the rest.

The skirmisher mech pulled out of the melee after leaving behind a criss cross of knife marks on the enemy mech. Raella’s voice emerged from the speakers. "You’re getting rather slow, aren’t you?"

"I got much more in store for you than that, lassie!" The man inside the swordman mech broadcasted as he urged his mech to pursue his opponent.

The swordsman mech hadn’t fared very well so far. Its pilot was older and more experienced than Raella, but he couldn’t match her in terms of technical skill.

Raella deftly swerved her borrowed skirmisher mech to dodge the incoming hack. Her mech went in to leave behind another nick, only for her mech to receive a punch that pushed it back.

"Get her, Mack! You can do it!"

"Watch out for the legs as well, girlie!"

That advice proved to be telling as Mackarel’s mech lashed out in a dangerous flurry of kicks. Raella’s mech barely dashed out of reach, and swiped its weapons forward to slice some layers off the extended leg before it drew back.

That last attack had bit a little deep, causing the swordsman mech to suffer from unsteady footing. Raella took advantage of her opponent’s preoccupation and went all-in, shoving the unsteady sword aside before surgically stabbing the weak points of the vulnerable mech before it could recover.

A huge cheer sounded out as the swordsman mech practically lost all of its connections to its limbs. The hapless mech collapsed onto its back like a puppet with its strings cut off.

The ringleader enthusiastically announced the end of the duel. "And the winner is Raella Larkinson! She’s shown herself to be as capable as her famous cousin Melinda, but prettier by far!"

The battered skirmisher mech opened its cockpit, allowing Raella to jump out and float down with her anti-grav clothes. She approached the cockpit of the fallen mech and waited for its cockpit to open up as well.

A grizzled man wearing an armband and covered in tribal tattoos climbed out of his immobilized mech. He shook his head, trying to recover from the trauma of being inside a mech that fell onto its back. "If all the Larkinsons are like you, no wonder your family’s so renowned."

"If you think I’m a big deal, you should see my uncle Ark."

They shook hands, showing no hard feelings for each other. The hierarchy of the Blood Claws largely revolved around strength. They respected any man or woman who had the skills to back up their talk, and Raella proved herself in spades.

The young woman quietly shook her head. Even though she trounced a cadre of the Blood Claws, she’d still be known as Melinda’s relative. Her cousin in the Planetary Guard had become a planet-wide phenomenon recently after she somehow made it through a grueling duel against a captain of the Mech Corps.

Raella returned to the stands while the arena operators hauled away the mechs. Once she reached Dietrich’s side, he held out her hand. "Gimme my cut."

Even as he handed over a credit chip, Dietrich swept the woman in his arms and engulfed her in a kiss.

"Get off! I’m sweaty!" Raella punched her handsome boyfriend away with her strong physique.

"I don’t care, babe. The more sweat, the better."

Dietrich kept grinning at her as he attempted to keep the feisty woman in his embrace. Raella didn’t appreciate being treated like a doll and forcefully punched his stomach until he finally let go.

The Blood Claw members sitting besides them laughed at the spectacle. "Can’t control your woman, Dietrich?"

"Oh shot up Tumra. I don’t see you with a girl anywhere."

"That’s because I have a different one in my bed every night!"

Despite the crude talk and occasional roughhousing, Raella enjoyed her time with the Blood Claws. Even though she knew the Blood Claws did a lot of shady stuff out of sight, Dietrich’s presence opened up a lot of doors, while her strength earned her a lot of respect.

The pair remained in the arena and watched the other fights that followed.

Not all of the pilots consisted of Blood Claw members. A fair amount used to be mercenaries or mech athletes who fell into debt. The only way they could earn back their pay was to fight in an arena without rules.

The people in the arena grew stoked at the idea of picking up a fortune off the ground.

"Sharpen your claws and ready your mechs, because the Blood Claws will be grabbing a piece of the action! We set off in three days!"

As the broadcast ended, everyone went wild at the prospect of taking part in this enormous venture.

In the meantime, a lot had to be arranged. Monty’s organization had to decide who to send and who to hold back to defend their territories. They had to prepare their carriers and acquire other ones to accomodate all of the mechs and mining equipment they intended to bring along.

The leaders already buzzed about as they received their own instructions. As for Raella, her eyes turned into swirls as she imagined the adventure of it all. She wanted to be part of the expedition. She stood up and climbed up the stands, heading straight towards the circle of leaders.

Dietrich hastily followed after his girlfriend. "Raella? Don’t go up there! It’s dangerous!"

The guards who stood in the way noticed her approach, but instead of halting her in her tracks, they wordlessly moved aside. Raella walked straight past their heavily-armored forms and drew attention from the older generation of Blood Claws.

A bald man wearing the biggest ring of red and black looked over her pilot-suited form. "Ah, we have a distinguished guest. Miss Raella Larkinson, what can we do for you?"

"I want in."

Dietrich finally reached her side and gripped her arm, but he didn’t dare pull her back. He failed to stop her in time.

The bald man looked wordlessly at Raella while the other leaders waited for his decision. He only considered the matter for a couple of seconds before he nodded. "Why not? You’re in."

The brief exchange of words had sealed her fate. Dietrich minutely shook his head as he drew her out of the circle. Once they gained some distance, he scolded her for a fair bit.

"That was dangerous as hell! Do you know who he is? He’s the left hand of Monty the Beheader! He could have decided to cut your head off on a whim!"

"He wouldn’t dare." Raella smirked. Being a Larkinson had its perks. "Besides, I just showed everyone that I can pull my own weight. The Blood Claws will thank me for saving their hides."

For the rest of the night, Dietrich remained concerned about Raella. He regretted taking her with him on a tour to Bentheim.

While Raella jumped into her bed and fell asleep, Dietrich hunched over the other side of the bed and held up his comm. His finger hovered over the name of Ves.