“Alright ladies,” Daddy Spider said. “Pads out, transfers ready. My buddy here says you got the good credits.” He gave his dented baseball bat a little swing. “Let’s do this nice and easy and you go home in one piece.”

  “Shit,” Vicky said. “Fucking gangs.” She pulled out her scratchpad and prepared the transfer.

  “What are you doing?” Owen asked. He pushed her pad down and she scowled at him. “Don’t give him anything.” He wasn’t going to let anyone get robbed.

  “What are you doing, Owen?” Sensei Dan asked. “Just give them the money.”

  “Get out of here,” Owen told Daddy Spider. He remembered the man being bigger. Or was that all in his head? “Unless you want to get beat down in front of your boys again.”

  “Do I know you?” Daddy Spider asked. His crew laughed as Owen stepped forward. His eyes flicked from demon to demon. Half of them were ice addicts, the rest on something else judging by the size of their pupils. Then there was Daddy Spider who couldn’t stop fidgeting.

  “The Gold Glow, food court. You remember.” Owen met Daddy Spider’s gaze. “You ready for round two?”

  “Take it easy, Owen,” Vicky whispered. “We can just give them the credits. We’ve got plenty.” He wasn’t listening though.

  “I knocked you on your ass and your boys ran away. I remember that. Is that why you stopped haunting the mall? Haven’t seen you around.” He wanted the fight. Adrenaline leaked into his body. He hadn’t hit anyone in too long and Daddy Spider was the perfect asshole shaped punching bag.

  “That’s the fucking guy?” Hacksaw asked Daddy Spider. His eyes went wide. “Let’s fuck him up.”

  Owen held back his smile. He felt electricity in the air as he planned his opening move. They weren’t anything to be afraid of anymore. He saw them for what they really were. Cockroaches. They lurked in the garbage and went after easy targets.

  “Owen, stop,” Vicky said. She grabbed his arm and he shrugged her off. Who was she to stop him? She should’ve been thanking him.

  “You’re outnumbered,” Sensei Dan said. “What’s your plan of attack?”

  “I attack,” Owen said. He sprinted at Hacksaw and threw a powerful roundhouse kick. Crack! Hacksaw’s jaw snapped before the Demons could react. They were slow, stunned by the sudden assault. It gave Owen another free hit. He drove Hardknuckle straight punch into a demon’s nose. Cartilage popped. He spewed blood like a soda fountain. Owen dodged a punch and countered with a kick.

  The demons weren’t stunned anymore. They rushed Owen. Grabbed his jacket and dragged him. Owen fought his way free, throwing elbows into heads and chops at necks. Daddy Spider swung his bat. Owen ducked and the bat bounced off a demon’s head with a hollow thud.

  “Fuck, I’m sorry!’ Daddy Spider said.

  Owen hit him with an uppercut that knocked him on his ass. It was like fighting kids. Uncoordinated, addled kids. But it satisfied the part of him that wanted to hurt someone.

  The demons surrounded him and Owen chuckled. He wanted this more than anything else. The world around him drifted away. Only the fight existed. He grabbed a piece of rebar from a scrap pile and flourished it overhead like a staff. More than one demon took a step back.

  All eyes were on Owen so no one saw Vicky. She pulled a small rod out of her jacket pocket and flicked her wrist. A three section baton extended from the handle and she smacked a demon across his back. All hell broke loose. Ben stayed far away from the fighting and hid behind an old sedan. Vicky swatted chins and hands with her baton. Owen waded into battle, his rebar staff breaking elbows and kneecaps better than a peacekeeper’s ECD.

  His face hurt from smiling so wide. Owen expected a dull mission. The Red Demons made his day. With each crack of his staff he wanted to smile. He’d been so afraid of violence before Hardknuckle. Now he’d put it in his top five favorite things. Right above Star Quest and just below chatting with Amber all night.

  Owen moved beside Vicky, striking around her as demons got close. Where she was vulnerable Owen covered her and where Owen was exposed Vicky protected him. She wasn’t a great fighter by any stretch of the imagination, but she was ruthless with her baton and Owen was glad they were on the same side.

  Daddy Spider came at Owen again. Swung his bat like a man possessed. Owen couldn’t believe he was scared of this man once upon a time. He was so weak. A spider to be stepped on. Owen deflected the bat strikes. Metal on metal pings echoed across the Scrap Yard. Scavengers on the stacks cheered at the free entertainment.

  Owen spun his staff and knocked the bat out of Daddy Spider’s hands.

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  “Alright, I give up!” Daddy Spider held his hands up. But that wasn’t good enough. Owen shattered his kneecap with a lightning fast kick. He tossed the staff away and grabbed Daddy Spider by the vest.

  “Not yet,” Owen said. He smashed his forehead against Daddy Spider’s noses. Crack! It went flat on his face. Owen felt warm blood on his head. The demon whimpered as Owen grabbed his wrist and twisted the demon to the ground. Daddy Spider’s screams were shrill. Desperate. Music to Owen’s ears.

  “Why is it enough now?” Owen stepped on his elbow. “It wasn’t enough when you had a knife to my face!” Daddy Spider’s eyes went wide in agony as Owen pushed his arm further. “It’s only enough because I’m winning.”

  “I’m sorry! Fuck! I’m sorry!”

  Daddy Spider’s elbow snapped with a sickening pop. He let out a high pitched wail that invaded the minds of onlookers. Owen couldn’t stop smiling while the rest of the wounded demons abandoned their maimed leader.

  Owen grabbed the bat and stood over Daddy Spider. He imagined all the horrible things he could do to this man with the bat and how no one could stop him.

  “That’s enough,” Sensei Dan said as he caught Owen’s wrist mid-swing. “He’s beaten and humiliated. Have some honor.” Dan glared down at Owen. “You won’t get anything else from hurting him. You’ll lose something.”

  “Alright,” Owen said. He tossed the bat. “This is mine though.” He ripped Daddy Spider’s vest off and tossed it over his shoulder. “Let’s go!” he shouted at Vicky and Ben. Owen led the way this time, his knuckles sore in the best way. He hoped another gang would try to mug them. He could fight ten gangs. He could fight the world!

  “What the fuck was that?” Vicky slapped him on the back of the head and for a moment instinct took over and he was ready to fight her. “We didn’t need to do that. You didn’t need to do that.” she said it like an accusation. He didn’t do anything wrong.

  “They tried to rob us,” Owen said. He put his hands on his hips and glared down at Vicky. She flinched. He shook his head. “Was I supposed to let them? Fuck that.” He couldn’t believe it. She was against him after he saved the team’s credits.

  “And now I bet peacekeepers are on their way,” Vicky said calmly. She took a step away from him. Did she think he’d hit her? “We’re supposed to be keeping things quiet. That wasn’t quiet. I’d expect this shit from Tom or Scott. Not you, Owen.”

  “Then we better get out of here.” Owen snatched a duffel bag from Ben and jogged away. Peacekeeper response time was usually slow. There were too many citizens and not enough law enforcement. The trio was gone and safely on the transit without seeing a single responding peacekeeper.

  Owen sat alone near an exit door. The transit car was relatively empty during this part of the day. Not many low lifes were leaving work so early. The fuck did Vicky know? Owen would fight the Demons over and over again. He cracked his knuckles and looked at Ben. Fucking useless. Just like Owen was. He’d never be that again. He set the duffel bag on the seat next to him and crossed his arms.

  “Was that really necessary?” Sensei Dan asked him. He looked at Vicky and Ben sitting across from them. “You didn’t need to fight them. That fight could’ve been avoided.”

  “I didn’t want to avoid it,” Owen said. He wanted to go back for more. “They deserved it.”

  “Maybe.” Dan shrugged. “But you pulled Vicky and Ben into it. What could’ve happened if you went down and they were all alone? What could’ve happened to Vicky if one of those punks got lucky and dropped you?” Dan let silence linger for a moment. “You’re good at this. You train hard. You’re not invincible. The worst thing you can do is believe you are.”

  “Nothing happened,” Owen said. Though there was some truth to Dan’s words. Owen wasn’t thinking about Ben or Vicky. He only wanted the pleasure of victory.

  “Honor is still important Owen. If you don’t have honor you don’t have anything. An honorable man doesn’t pull his friends into a brawl for no reason. I’m starting to worry about you a little bit. A desire to fight is healthy. Bloodlust isn’t. That’s not what Hardknuckle is for.”

  “I feel good,” Owen said defensively. Sensei Hardknuckle instilled these techniques into Owen and chided him for using them. “I know what I’m doing.”

  “Let’s hope so. If you need to talk I’m here.” Sensei Dan disappeared and left Owen alone with his thoughts. Vicky occasionally shot him a dirty look and when they dropped off the supplies at the warehouse they parted without another word.

  Owen’s scratchpad dinged as he walked through the transit station. Vicky and Ben took the supplies and left him without a goodbye. Fuck them. A picture of Amber with her cast mates adorned his screen and he felt some of his rage subside. When he shoved his hand back in his pocket he felt the picture of him and Vicky. He looked at them together and couldn’t help but smile to himself. The Owen from before wouldn’t recognize him anymore. If anyone else saw it they might assume they were a normal couple instead of a pair of broken cogs pretending to be friends.

  He knew their friendship was a sham. They were brought together by circumstance and nothing else. It didn’t matter if they took pictures, or fucked, or fought together. The promise not to betray each other was na?ve. He didn’t know Vicky and she didn’t know him. Low lifes looked out for themselves. He shoved the picture in his pocket, angrier than he’d been before.

  He thought about his parents and how they’d been good citizens their whole lives. What did good cogs get for it? Smashed by a tube. Dead. Dead and their son was chewed up by the machine they kept running. It pissed Owen off and he needed something to take it out on.

  “Hey, pal,” a man in dark clothing said from an alley. “Need some ice?” The man smiled, his black teeth rotting out of his skull. Owen saw more men attempting to hide in the shadows of the garbage strewn alley. Adrenaline slithered into his veins again.

  “Sure,” Owen said with a grin as he sized his prey up. Weak, addicted. Cockroaches in the concrete. “Lead the way.”

  Owen didn’t wait for them to attack. He struck like lightning. His hits demolished anything in his way. Solid punches and devastating low kicks. The ice heads could have them all. His fists ached and his shins burned. One by one they fell helpless to his Hardknuckle onslaught. The ice heads lay around him groaning and it was over too fast. He needed more adrenaline, he needed the pain in his knuckles.

  Sensei Dan was wrong. Owen didn’t need to tamp down his bloodlust. He needed to unleash it. On the Callahans. On City Seven. On anyone who stood in his way.