“Drop the weapon!” a security agent said. He deployed an ECD. The metal prongs on its tip sparked. “Get on the ground, fucker! Hands behind your head! Do it now! You’re outnumbered!”

  “But not outclassed,” Sensei Dan said as he stood beside Owen. “One at a time, Owen. Do what you need to do.”

  Owen zipped toward the agent. He opened with a spinning back kick into his gut. Knocked the air out of the agent with a thud. He fell back into his allies. Gave Owen a couple seconds to retreat.

  They had Owen eight to one. But he could win if he played it right. He moved between a pair of white Yamada work trucks. He couldn’t fight eight men at once. Narrowing the battlefield gave him an advantage. He had to fight them one at a time if he wanted out.

  An agent moved between the gap and Owen smashed him in the head. Drops of blood spattered on Owen's mask. His nunchuck’s had reach and when an agent dropped another climbed over his coworker. ECD light reflected in white truck paint as Owen battled for his life in the narrow confines. His nunchucks whistled. Kept moving as Owen went for hard targets. Knuckles, elbows, knees. Nunchucks worked well on those. Each crack of steel on bone elicited a cry from the security agents.

  They flanked him and he fled again, stepping off a truck tire to leap over its bed. He hit the ground hard and tumbled across the pavement.

  The agents chased him, leather boots slapping asphalt. Owen ran faster, his training with Coach Wilson giving him the conditioning to confidently flee. Ranged ECDs popped behind him. Prongs sailed past him as he dodged. He still needed an out. Siren lights flashed as a peacekeeper patrol car cut him off and an armored PK hopped out to confront him. He ignored orders to surrender and slid across the PK car’s hood. He kicked the PK in the chest. Not enough to take him out of the fight. Enough to put him down for a precious second.

  The PK sprung to his feet and shot a tackle at Owen. He sprawled on instinct. Pushed the PK’s face right into the pavement. His ad visor shattered and Owen had a few more precious seconds while the PK recovered.

  Owen jumped in the patrol car and locked the door. The PK hammered the reinforced window with the butt of his ECD. A distorted ad flickered across his busted screen.

  “I’m borrowing it!” Owen shouted.

  The agents swarmed the car while PK called for backup. Owen's team left him behind. He had to get out himself or he was going to spend the rest of his life in Black Hill. He tried to remember what Mandy taught him when they were teenagers.

  She had access to the care facility van when she turned sixteen and made grocery runs with Owen in tow. Sometimes she tried to teach him how to drive around an empty parking lot. It was the only time in his life he drove something that wasn’t pedal powered.

  “Foot on brake, lever to d.” Owen put the car in drive. “Accelerate gently.”

  He stomped the accelerator and the wheels spun behind him kicking up smoke. “Foot off brake!” Owen screamed as the car took off like a rocket. He didn’t have control, but he was far away from his pursuers in an instant. Immediately after that instant he t-boned a parked car. Metal screamed. The world exploded. Airbags hit him from every direction.

  “Please remain calm,” a feminine voice dinged from above. “Medical assistance is on the way. Enter the recovery position if possible. Thank you for driving with Yamada Motors.”

  “You still alive?” Sensei Dan asked. Despite the world being blurry Owen could see Dan in high definition. It must have been the CTD. “Get moving, Owen. They’re coming. This is nothing. Be hurt later.”

  Owen fell out of the busted window as his world spun. He crawled on his hands and knees and realized he left his nunchucks in the car. Did he need to go back? No! He couldn’t think straight. His entire body shook and his heart pounded in his chest in a bad way.

  The peacekeeper led a horde of security agents toward Owen. He couldn’t move. His mind was frazzled and his legs wouldn’t support his weight. It was all over. At least he’d have Sensei Dan with him in his cell at Black Hill. If he made it to Black Hill.

  Tires screeched as the box truck pulled in front of Owen. The passenger window rolled down and Vicky honked the horn. Owen blinked. She shouted at him but his ears still rang.

  “Get in the truck!” Sensei Dan shouted. That came through loud and clear and Owen found his strength again. He jumped inside on noodle legs as Vicky peeled out past the agents and rammed through a chain link gate.

  “You okay?” Vicky asked, her voice far away. “Owen? Talk to me? I’m so fucking sorry! I thought you were in the truck. I came back as soon as Scott told me.”

  “Thanks.” Owen took a deep breath. Sweat soaked his clothes and his hands wouldn’t stop shaking. That was too close. “We’re even.”

  “What?”

  “I saved you, and you saved me.” He tried to laugh. “We’re even now.”

  “Shut up.” Vicky smiled at him. “Relax. We’ll be home free soon.” Vicky sped through the mostly empty streets of the industrial district to where they had a second vehicle stashed. They transferred the box truck contents into the waiting van and burned the truck before leaving.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Scott and Ben congratulated Owen on surviving against so many agents, while Naomi stayed silent. She locked him out on purpose. He knew it. He just didn’t know why and he didn’t have the energy to confront her about it. He’d keep both eyes on her from then on. He really needed his bed.

  Owen limped to the train station after they deposited the explosives at the warehouse. He needed to get home and sleep because he had training first thing in the morning. Scott checked him over for broken ribs but the worst he got was a black eye and a fat lip from the airbag. That could be explained away.

  He leaned against a support beam as he waited for the train. Five minutes. The clock ticked away as Owen closed his eyes, almost asleep standing up. His head jerked forward and he snapped awake, finally noticing the peacekeeper looking in his direction. The peacekeeper’s visor flashed ads for Star Quest and the summer blockbuster Justice Force Part Five. Owen smiled. He didn’t know a fifth one was coming out.

  The peacekeeper approached Owen. He must have accidently made eye contact while watching the ad play. The logo for BAKSHI AUTHENTIC CURRY adorned the peacekeeper’s shoulders and another ad for private tutoring flashed across the visor.

  “Identify, citizen,” the peacekeeper said. She was a bit shorter than Owen and kept her hands close to her chest. “Identify.” Owen considered his options. He thought he could take her in his battered state but it wouldn’t be fun. Why would she approach him? He didn’t look like a vagrant aside from the bags under his eyes and he wasn’t breaking any laws. Did they know who he was? “Last request, identify.”

  “Owen Lamb,” he said.

  “I thought it was you. This is insane.” The peacekeeper unclipped her helmet and pulled it off. It seemed unreal. Owen wasn’t sure peacekeepers had heads under those helmets. “It’s really you.” There was a faint familiarity in the woman’s face. Owen traced her sharp features with his eyes. Her blonde hair was tied in a loose bun and her face was soft save for a scar on her chin. A scar like, no, it couldn’t be. “Figure it out yet, idiot?” She punched him in the shoulder playfully and he pretended it didn’t hurt every muscle in his arm.

  “Mandy?” Owen blinked. He was suddenly wide awake. “Mandy!”

  “In the flesh.” She hugged Owen. It was so sudden he almost threw an elbow at her. “It’s so good to see you. This is crazy. I just got off my shift. What are you doing right now? We should get dinner!”

  “Um, dinner?” It wasn't a good idea.

  “Yeah, dummy. Food. Come on. I know a spot.” She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away from the arriving train. “We need to catch up.”

  Mandy’s diner of choice was a twenty-four-hour HUNGRY JOE’S. The food wasn’t great, but it was warm and cheap. They sat in a booth in the corner of the restaurant, Mandy’s uniform keeping other citizens far away.

  “I'm married.” She pulled out her personal scratchpad and showed Owen a picture of her wife. She was a slender woman with a deep tan. Her hair was curly and she had an infectious smile on her face. “Rachel. Been together a year. Got married about four months back. Might have been too soon." Mandy frowned for a second. "She’s an emergency medic with Solus. She’s awesome most of the time. You’d like her. She’s really into Star Quest. Do you still watch it? We watch it every Friday after our shifts. Rachel would kill me if we missed an episode.”

  “I haven’t kept up with it.” Owen hadn’t addressed the elephant in the room that was Mandy’s disappearance. “I’ve been busy.” He tried to find the right words in his brain.

  “That business get you a black eye?” She tapped her temple.

  “Yeah,” Owen said. “It’s my job now." It wasn't exactly a lie. "I’m training for the Fighting League.”

  “You used to get your ass kicked all the time when we were kids.” Mandy laughed. “Remember when Kelly Smith punched you in the mouth?”

  “I’m pretty sure I could take Kelly Smith now.” Owen laughed awkwardly. He took a deep breath and his ribs ached. “I didn’t think I’d see you again. I thought you were dead.”

  “I know.” She set her fork down and played with a loose strand of hair. “I’m sorry about that. I just needed to get out of there, you know. Needed a clean break from all the bullshit from my life. I don’t mean you, just, everything else. Too much baggage, you know? I got a job working the assembly line at Bakshi Curry. I hated every second, but it bought me a share tube with a couple other workers. Did some other stuff I'm not proud of too. After a few years I was old enough to apply for peacekeeper sponsorship through the company. That’s pretty much it aside from some failed relationships.”

  “You work the stations?”

  “I do now,” Mandy scoffed. “Did you hear about that prison break a little while ago? It was in that tunnel with all the flamingos painted on it. What the fuck is it called?”

  “The flamingo tunnel,” Owen said flatly.

  “Yeah, that one. A Black Hill transport got hit. No one died, but shit. I got into a fight with this asshole. He fucked up my old visor and hit me in the neck with my own ECD.” She tugged her collar down and showed Owen a pair of prong scars. “They demoted me to station duty. Lost my car and the extra pay. I fuckin’ wish I’d come across him again.”

  “What would you do?” Owen asked.

  “I’d knock his fuckin’ head off. You know, we were thinking about adopting, but this demotion fucked everything up. Forget about that." Mandy shook her head and ripped the crust off her sandwich when it arrived. She was still very much her. "That’s my bullshit out in the open. You’re training for the league? Who’s your sponsor?”

  “You wouldn’t believe me.” Owen grinned. “Take a guess.”

  “Daddy Mulligan?”

  “Amber Callahan.” Owen almost didn't believe it himself. He imagined any second he'd wake up from whatever dream he found himself in.

  “Bullshit.”

  “Not at all,” Owen said with a smirk. Mandy looked dumbfounded. “She saw me at a fight club and wanted to sponsor me.”

  “You go to fight clubs? That’s a five hundred credit fine.” Mandy smiled wide. “I’ll give you a warning.” Mandy finished her soup and burped. “I need to get home before Rachel gets worried.” She wrote her contact info down and pressed it into Owen's hand. “You better get me tickets to your first fight. We should get lunch sometime. You can meet Rachel. I’m glad we ran into each other.” Mandy gave Owen a parting hug and went on her way.

  “You think it’s a good idea?” Sensei Dan asked. He appeared in the booth where Mandy was sitting. “It won’t look good having a peacekeeper friend.”

  “That doesn’t matter,” Owen said. “She’s alive.” He couldn’t stop smiling while he finished his sandwich. The pain faded away. The city hadn’t killed his friend like he believed. While Owen stagnated in the low city day after miserable day, Mandy flourished and had a real life. She was another cog in the machine, but she was alive and well. It was more than he could’ve hoped for a care facility orphan on her own in the chaos of City Seven.