He made his way to a cheap storage facility in the Low City where Vicky met him outside a small unit decorated with graffiti. Inside was a small workshop packed with cardboard boxes and dozens of wire spools. It reminded Owen of Luther's repair shop. He wondered how his former employer was doing. It felt like years since he'd seen the man.

  “This your unit?” Owen asked. He spied a cot covered in blankets pushed against a corner and a micro fridge near the workbench. “Do you live here? It’s cozy.” It was five times the size of his cube and he imagined cheaper. Why didn’t he think of living in a storage unit? Because he was a law-abiding citizen tethered by fear of fines.

  “It was Brad’s,” Vicky said. “He used to do commissions here before, you know.” She kicked a box. “A lot of this is stuff he gathered for the cause. He used to spend hours stripping wire down at the scrapyard. Grab a couple of spools.”

  “That’s a lot of wire. This have anything to do with the warehouse? What was that about anyway?” Stealing a truckload of explosives wasn’t sitting well with Owen. He couldn’t imagine what Tuck wanted to do with them. Not that Tuck let anyone in on his plans. The less the team knew the less peacekeepers would know if anyone got captured. The plan lived inside Tuck’s mind alone.

  “I don’t know.” Vicky shrugged. “Maybe we’re going to hit another bank. They keep credit servers behind thick doors. We might need to blow it open. It’s not our place to ask questions like that. Tuck has it handled.”

  “Hey,” Owen said. He tried to pick the right words to use. What Sensei Dan said was bothering him more than he wanted to admit. He couldn’t shake it. “Do you ever wonder if we’re doing the right thing? I know what we’re doing is illegal. But do you think it’s right?”

  “Shut up.” Vicky pushed past him and slammed the unit door shut. “Why the fuck are you asking me that?” She shoved Owen. He dropped his spool of wire and it rolled away. “Huh?” She pushed him again. “You getting cold feet?” She tried to shove him again and Owen grabbed her wrists. “Fuck are you doing? Get the fuck off me!”

  “I’m serious.” Owen let her go and took a step away in case she decided to throw a punch. “It’s just us. Be honest with me, Vicky. We go on these missions and we don’t know what we’re really working for. I almost got killed. Are you okay with being in the dark all the time?”

  “Not really.” She shrugged and pulled out her cube. “But what else am I going to do? There’s no walking away after what we’ve done and we’ve done some bad shit. It isn’t just siphoning credits out of banks. We hurt citizens.” She shifted the colors. “We kill.” She didn’t say anything for a minute. “Have you killed anyone yet?”

  “No,” Owen said. He didn’t want to kill anyone. He enjoyed fighting. The thrill of it made him feel alive in ways he couldn’t predict. But killing? The thought made him uneasy.

  “I have.” She shrugged. “It was a security agent awhile back. I cracked his head with a bat.” She stopped shifting the colors. “It just kinda happened. He came around the corner and it was over before I even knew what I was doing. He just dropped and that was it. Gone. Just like that. I think about it a lot. More after Brad. Did I take that agent from someone?” Vicky tapped the side of her head. “I can still hear how the bat sounded when it hit him. So, it doesn’t matter how fucked up I think it’s getting. I’m in deep. You can’t ask me shit like this, Owen. It doesn’t look good. Anyone else would rat you out to Tuck.”

  “You almost sound like you care.”

  “Well fuck me, I do care! Alright? I care about you.” Vicky threw her hands up. She pulled off her cap and slammed it on the workbench. “You know, Brad used to sit at this bench everyday working on his little toys. Modded scratchpads, watches, portable drones. He could put together anything. I loved just being with him. He believed in Tuck and I believed in Brad. I didn’t question the mission until he died.” Vicky paused and set the cube down gently. “I’ve considered leaving. But where the fuck would I go? If you haven’t noticed, there’s a wall around the city that goes on for miles and miles. And Tuck would find me. He doesn’t leave loose ends.”

  “We hope for the best?” Owen said with no conviction. They were cogs in Tuck’s machine now. Only time would tell if they’d be ground away under his machinations.

  “I guess. I got something for talk like this.” Vicky opened the micro fridge and pulled out a couple of unbranded cans. She tossed one to Owen and popped the tab.

  “What is it?” It looked like a soda can.

  “Beer.” She took a sip.

  “Isn’t this illegal?” He recognized the irony of the statement the moment he said it. “How’d you get it?”

  “Illegal doesn’t mean impossible to get. Why do you think there are drug dealers running around? You can find back alley brewers around every corner. I won’t tell a peacekeeper, I promise.” She winked at him.

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  “Smell’s bad,” Owen said when he popped the top.

  “Tastes worse.” Leather squeaked as Vicky hopped on the stool and spun. Old bearings squealed.

  Owen drank with Vicky in silence. It was his first, and hopefully only beer. It tasted worse than the Health Organization emergency vitamin drinks. Owen didn’t know it was possible. Maybe Duke Callahan did the city a favor by banning it. While Owen nursed his drink, Vicky slammed down three and started on another.

  “Want to fuck?” Vicky asked. Her question shattered the silence. She didn’t show any emotion as she brushed hair out of her eyes. “It’s a yes or no question.”

  “That’s not a good idea.”

  “Why not? I don’t know how long it's been for you, but it's been a minute for me. Been a few minutes. Do you have that many mid-town girls jumping all over you since you started working for Miss Amber Callahan? Or am I just ugly?” Vicky smirked at him as she twirled on the stool.

  “You’re not ugly.” She was far from it. She wasn’t a high life beauty manufactured through surgery and in-womb bio crafting. Freckles lightly dotted the bridge of her nose. Her skin had some wear on it. She had slight bags under her eyes and her hair was messy from wearing her hat. She was real. Maybe in another life Owen could see himself with Vicky or someone like her. But not in this one.

  “But you don’t want to fuck me?” Vicky shrugged. “Your loss. And it is your loss. I’m pretty good at it.” She laughed and raised her can to him. “Enjoy the groupies I guess.”

  “I’ve never.” Owen took a deep breath. He wasn’t sure he should tell her. “You know.” He looked at the ground as a giggle escaped Vicky. “Don’t laugh.”

  “How old are you?” She crushed her beer can and tossed it. “Twenty-six?”

  “Twenty-three. I didn’t really have the time to find someone.” Vicky burst out laughing. She held her belly, smiling wider than Owen thought she was capable of. She laughed so long she cried and Owen started to feel like it was a mistake telling her. “It’s not that funny.” Owen chuckled.

  “It is! There are millions of citizens in the city and you couldn’t find anyone?” Vicky’s eyes went wide. “Not one person? I don’t believe it. You can pay for it if you know where to go. The Low City is full of ladies selling it.”

  “Crossing ad space used to be a big crime for me.” He would’ve turned himself in for soliciting a prostitute. He would’ve thought he deserved a sentence at Black Hill back then.

  “Well.” Vicky wiped tears away and took off her jacket as she giggled. “Let me help you out.”

  “What? Vicky, you don’t need to–,”

  “Stop talking,” she said.

  She strode over to Owen and planted a kiss on him. He stood in stunned silence. He hadn’t kissed a woman since Kelly Smith at the care facility. She wasn’t a woman, she was a girl and Owen was just a boy.

  “That better not be your first kiss.” Vicky smirked and pulled off her shirt. Owen’s gaze fell to the freckles on her belly.

  “It’s not.” Just his first as an adult. Second total. She didn’t need to know that.

  “Good.” Vicky unbuckled Owen’s pants as she wiggled out of her own. “I don’t know if I should be all of your firsts.”

  “Hey,” Owen stopped her. His heart pounded worse than when he was in a fight. “Are you sure about this?”

  “I’m half naked.” She unclasped her bra and tossed it. Owen swallowed as his eyes fell to her breasts. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen her naked, but the circumstances were completely different. “What do you think? Like what you see?” She slipped her hand down the front of his pants and grabbed him.

  “Guess you do,” she said. “Good. Don’t worry.” She kissed him again and moved one of his hands to her ass. “I’ll be gentle.” She pulled him to the cot, moving slowly as she undressed him. If she went any faster he might run right through the roll top door. “This is just a one-time thing,” Vicky said. “I’m not looking for a boyfriend. So, don’t get any weird ideas afterwards. This is just for fun, okay?”

  “We don’t have to do this,” Owen said. “If it’s a problem we can stop. We just pretend this didn’t happen.” The rational side of his mind overcame the horny side and he wondered if his Hardknuckle training strengthened him there too.

  “Oh, shut the fuck up. I’m not drunk. I want to fuck you. You don’t need to be magnanimous right now.” Vicky shoved her tongue in his mouth and the lustful side of his mind demolished the rational side.

  It wasn’t how Owen expected to lose his virginity. He almost resigned himself to dying with his virginity intact. But on a cot in a small storage unit is where it happened. He was clumsy. Unskilled. More than once he accidentally pulled Vicky’s hair. He knew his way around a fight, but a woman was different. Still, there was something calming about being intertwined with Vicky. Her skin was warm against his. Her body soft to the touch. Owen couldn’t have imagined being with Vicky in such a way when they first met.

  Her moans of pleasure drove Owen wild and when she kissed him he forgot about the world outside. There was no City Seven. No Hardknuckle. No Liberation Brigade. Just Vicky for a few fleeting, perfect moments.

  “Thank you,” Vicky said when they were done. She snuggled against him, her head resting on his chest. “It’s been a little while. That was nice.”

  “Was I any good?” Owen asked, hoping he discovered some hidden talent.

  “Nope.” Vicky giggled. “You need some practice. Remember, it’s not a race.” She tapped his chest and grinned. “You need to learn a few things. But I’m a pretty good teacher. Give me a minute and we can try again.”

  “What happened to it being a one-time thing?” Owen asked without thinking. He wished Sensei Dan would karate chop him in the neck for asking such a stupid question. He deserved it.

  “This is still part of that one-time.” She climbed on top of him. “You tell anyone about this and I’ll kill you.”

  “My lips are sealed,” Owen said with a nervous grin.

  “Not for long,” Vicky said as she attacked again.