Both men fell instantly silent as someone splashed through the knee-deep stream and approached the forward guardpost. Shin drew his pistol, but kept it hidden by the folds of the blanket. The figure approaching through the gloom sped on, seeming unmindful that he was rushing into danger.
As the man pulled parallel with his position, Shin eared back the hammer on the pistol. "Who goes there?" he demanded.
The figure stiffened, his terror apparent. "Azushi Motochika," he gasped.
"Where the hell have you been?" Shin asked, putting his pistol aside. "We were certain the Muen no Dainekogot you."
The man shook his head and confidence replaced the fear in his voice and silhouette. "No. The Smoke Jaguars did not get me, but I got them!" Motochika chortled with selfimportant glee. "Did you hear that explosion earlier?"
Shin nodded. "We assumed it was the Cats trying to seal another of our ratholes."
"No, one of the sewer rats struck back at the Cats. I planted a bomb at the Meibutsu club. It exploded and I think it got all of them. There were a dozen in there. I saw them go in. I counted them."
The other two men whooped with joy and pounded Motochika on the back, but Shin just stared in disbelief. "What about the others in the club? What about ourpeople in there?"
Motochika hesitated, but another of the men answered for him. "What do they matter? They were collaborators. They deserve what they got."
Shin launched himself from the ledge and pistol-whipped the speaker down into the sewage stream. "Idiot! They are our people!Without them and their support, we are nothing! We survive on their generosity because they believe we can drive the Smoke Jaguars away."
Before the echoes of Shin's outburst could fade, the heavy thunder of a BattleMech marching overhead smothered the sound. The three other men cringed in terror, the wet one pressing a hand to the gash Shin's gun had opened on his cheek. Shin looked up, the Mech Warrior in him not letting him show fear. He pointed at Motochika.
"You! Come with me. We're going up to see what the Cats are doing. You two stay here." Without further ado, Shin set off down the tunnel, then along a side passage running north. His course took him beneath the streets that the 'Mech trod above. When the 'Mech stopped, however, Shin continued on until he came to a set of rusty iron rungs set into the wall. He let Motochika catch up with him, then pointed up. "This leads to an abandoned building that should be just up the street from where they're standing. You go first."
Motochika mounted the rungs enthusiastically at first, but slowed as he reached the surface. He timidly pushed the trap door open, then crouched at the edge before waving Shin on up. Shin, who had waited in the shadows below the surface light's reach, joined the yakuza bomber and crept across the room to a broken window that looked out onto the street.
It was warmer up here, but Shin felt colder than ever at the sight of the BattleMech he had tagged Daishi—Great Death. It was surrounded by five armored warriors like the one he had been lucky enough to kill in the field two weeks earlier. Each had a boxy missile launcher on his back, clamped firmly to the assembly Shin believed to be a power pack for the armor and its weapons. Instead of relying only on their right-hand lasers, the infantry carried heavy rifles, too. The yakuza MechWarrior noticed how the rifle's trigger-guard assembly fit neatly over the laser muzzle, probably to somehow amplify the laser's energy.
The Daishi'Mech towered above all but the tallest building in this slummy burakuminsection of Edo. Though its legs and torso might have belonged to a humanoid model, the LRM launcher on its left shoulder looked like a multieyed auxiliary head and its arms were little more than bundles of gun-barrels. Shin recognized the weapons as large lasers, small autocannon, and medium lasers, with three more medium laser ports dotting the front of the 'Mech's chest.
One of the armored warriors stepped forward. "People of Uramachi precinct, we have traced a criminal to this place. He committed the most wasteful and careless act of planting a bomb in a place where civilian and military personnel were present. The explosion caused great loss of life—both to our people and to yours. This will not continue."
The infantryman pointed to the hovel nearest the Daishi."If the individual responsible is not turned over to us in the next two minutes, everyone in this house will die."
Shin cuffed Motochika roughly. "Fool, see what you have done?"
The younger man looked at Shin as though the Mech Warrior were mad. "You don't expect me to go out there, do you? I struck a blow for our freedom. They're bluffing. They won't destroy that house."
Shin stared hard at the man beside him. "You best hope they don't. If they do, and if you refuse to turn yourself over, I'll shoot you myself and dump your body in the street."
As the deadline neared, faces appeared in the windows and doorways of the street, including the house designated for destruction. The Smoke Jaguar infantryman bowed in the direction of the street, then turned toward the dwelling. At the same time, the Daishiswung its elbows back and locked its weapons down on the wood-scrap and tar-paper hovel.
Motochika turned away, but Shin grabbed a handful of his hair and forced him to look out the window. "Watch!"
At the large laser's hellish touch, the hovel exploded into an instant bonfire. Crackling flames appeared from everywhere at once, rising above the DaishTshead, then dropping down again as a hail of autocannon slugs flattened the building. A woman, her hair and clothing aflame, dashed screaming from the door, but one burst of laser bolts from the invader infantryman silenced her cries forever.
The acrid scent of singed hair and burning flesh made Motochika tear away from Shin's grasp and vomit in the corner. Shin ignored him as the Daishistepped forward and snuffed the flames beneath its flat metal feet. The infantry spokesman again addressed the street.
"People of Uramachi precinct, we have traced a criminal to this place. He committed the most wasteful and careless act of planting a bomb in a place where civilian and military personnel were present. The explosion caused great loss of life—both to our people and yours. This will not continue."
The soldier pointed to the next hovel. "If the individual responsible is not turned over to us in the next two minutes, everyone in this house will die."
Shin's mouth went sour. "The same words, Motochika, and the same gestures. Are you going to take responsibility for your actions, or are you going to let more people die?"
Motochika, still holding himself on hands and knees, looked weakly over his shoulder at the Kuroi KiriMechWarrior. "No one else has dared to strike at them as I have. The Old Man authorized expeditions to steal weapons and supplies from them, but we have never hurt them. While he has been content with thievery, they have been kidnapping our people. If I am the only man with true courage, I cannot allow myself to be sacrificed because no one else will actually fightthese invaders!"
Shin fought to control the fury Motochika's words aroused. "What courage does it take to plant a bomb and kill innocents as well as the guilty? You are nothing more than a common murderer! And how is it you claim courage when you huddle here like a whipped cur? There must be more than courage. There must be intelligence and honor in your actions. You are a child striking out blindly, then expecting others to take responsibility for your mistakes."
A bright spark of orange caught Shin's eye from the street, and almost instantly he knew what would happen. He leaned over and grabbed Motochika by the collar of his leather jacket. "This is courage. Watch and learn."