The Bear told Dirk to unlock the door. Dirk unlocked it and the creature ambled in, stooping under the ceiling. Dirk locked the door again.
"And what made you think this was the place to look?" The Bear rumbled.
Okay, get ready. Anytime now. The old business.... "Well," Steel said, bringing his legs in under him, leaning forward slightly on the bunk, "you ought to know a lot about those little visiting cards of yours." He pointed toward The Bear's own claws. "Take a look at those fake claws of yours there...."
The Bear glanced down. Dirk also glanced at The Bear's paws.
Steel sprang at Dirk.
He got his hand on the pistol. At the same time, his knee got in Dirk's belly. His other hand slammed Dirk back against the wall. Good, old-fashioned police work. He snatched the pistol from Dirk's hand and brought it up into Dirk's jaw like a set of brass knuckles.
Then Steel didn't even wait to watch Dirk fall. As he turned from him, he got the pistol right in his hand and fired.
His first shot blasted The Bear's mechanical right arm off. The next one got a leg. The next one got the other leg as the thing toppled over.
As it crashed to the floor, Steel jumped back into a corner of the room, gun on the weird scene on the floor.
Dirk was out cold again. The Bear was a mess. Springs, wires, stuffing, braces, it floundered there a moment till its motors short-circuited. Then inside the great mass of white hair there was a frantic scratching sound.