My metal feet slid across the dry sand, and I shook my numb arm off. Roxy brought her hands back up and positioned herself to kick me again.

  [This feels like training for you more than it is for me.]

  Day one of practice for the arena, and I was already questioning my mentor. After waking up, she had taken me out into the early morning light and drawn a wide circle in the dirt. Roxy stood in the center and told me if I left it, then I would lose.

  The fact that she insisted I remain in my t-shirt and shorts without any of my equipment or weaponry made this an uphill struggle. Utilizing a few of the kicks Roy had taught her, she had rebuffed all of my attempts to move her from her position.

  “Feel free to give up on stage one if you wish,” she replied, a smirk on her face.

  I grunted and pulled my shirt off. Threw it on the floor and then stretched my shoulders out. Even putting all my V-Force drives into overload and striking her wouldn’t get her quite to the edge, I was sure. My mind circled around other ways to try to shift her, but without my grapple or shotgun cartridges, I might as well wrestle a mountain.

  Then again, my ego told me that was no issue.

  My feet dug into the ground and I ran forward. Her kick lashed out, but I dodged it. I swung down with my gun-arm and she caught it. Left hand interlocked with hers as we struggled strength vs strength. She grinned and held me in place, unmoving. V-Force in my cybernetic feet hummed into life and dug into the ground, adding force to me weighing against her.

  The air around Roxy shimmered as she heated up. I could feel it against my skin as she remained staring at me with that grin. Flames flickered in her eyes as the smell of heated rock filled my re-breather.

  I was gaining no ground, and the super wasn’t letting up on generating heat. The warmth turned into brief pain. She was burning me and had no qualms about going further. Fully willing to cook me rather than…

  Oh.

  I relaxed my grip and she let me go. Even as my skin itched from the burn, I turned away from her and walked. Straight out of the circle and over to the nearest deckchair.

  “A little slow on the uptake, but you worked it out in time.”

  With a groan, I sat down and faced her. She had a smile on her face still, despite her arms being crossed. Point one would be that she never told me I needed to move her out of the circle. But the actual lesson was…

  [Sometimes I need to know when to walk away and take a loss.]

  “You can be just as stubborn as me,” she said as she walked over. “Your run-in with Red Dust proved that, so it’s better to get you to acknowledge your risk-taking bullshit before getting into anything with stakes.”

  [Retreating until I had the advantage is better than dashing myself against insurmountable odds.]

  “Bingo. Let me set up the next training session while you lick your wounds.”

  A small dose of my stims washed through me, eradicating any pain. It was at the point where it wouldn’t take long for my skin to heal up. A little focus would even speed up the process so that I could-

  Clara emerged from the workshop and stepped over to me.

  “Rockslide putting you through the wringer, Gunquake?” she asked.

  [I’m getting a crash course on thinking more like a hero.]

  “I see.” The techie stood beside with her hands in the dungaree pockets. “Once you are finished, I have some data-driven homework for you to engage with.” She looked over at where the super was arranging the training dummies.

  [Exciting. Is everything okay?]

  She screwed up her face briefly before giving me her usual passive glare. “I apologize if our brief courtship has run dry, Gunquake. My interest in such things is always wavering, if not doomed to evaporate entirely. All of my energy has been spent on work lately.”

  I raised an eyebrow. While I had always anticipated it to be a fleeting thing, it was a surprise that it bothered her - or at least she considered that it might bother me.

  [No need to apologize. As long as you are happy.]

  She frowned. “Hmm. If I may, could I whisper you some sweet nothings, Gunquake?”

  Given that she was speaking loud enough for Roxy to hear, and the super was definitely glaring at Clara instead of setting up the training, I assumed it was just another part of their game. Either way, I wasn’t going to deny her.

  [As you wish.]

  She leaned over close to me, her mouth beside my ear.

  “I’ve paid a criminal group from the dark web to break in and steal a V-Force drive from a local tech company. They are set to drop it off in the wastes east of here, at which point you’ll greet them and do your hero thing. A few explosions and some insurance write-offs, and… I’m sure you can read between the lines, Gunquake.”

  Clara stood back up and smiled toward Roxy. I let that nugget of information roll around my head, briefly wondering if I’d actually heard that right or imagined it.

  “Don’t break him, sister,” she called out. “I have some very in-depth exercises to perform with him later.”

  I watched the techie leave, back toward the workshop. It wasn’t an actual blameless and risk-free attempt at getting us a V-Force drive, but compared to the alternatives, we might get away with it. As to why I might show up to defeat the thieves? Director Kingston had already given me permission to investigate the rise in gun crime in the city. If we could tie these criminals to that…

  “Training time, Dubs.” Roxy looked like a fresh storm, energized by the techie and ready to put me through my paces.

  With little option but to just sigh and get on with it, I did just that.

  Slowly, I sunk into the bubble bath.

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  The rest of Roxy’s training regime after the single nugget of wisdom had been all physical in nature. Attack and defense drills. Not that I didn’t appreciate, but with less than a week to prepare, I didn’t think I’d be able to improve that dramatically in terms of fighting strength. Still, I did exactly as she instructed.

  I was only granted a reprieve when she had to go for her shift on patrol. Mine was early tomorrow morning, before the sun came up. Should be nice and quiet, even if it disrupted my sleeping schedule.

  The League had signed off on my application for the Heroism Arena - not they had much choice, given my acceptance of the challenge had been broadcast to the whole city. That said, Stacy would have informed them immediately after the recording had stopped, and that part of the show would have been cut if they didn’t want me doing it.

  I had a feeling that the Directors that didn’t like me were hoping for my downfall in the arena, while those with confidence knew I’d put to rest any doubts over my capabilities.

  As for my thoughts? I was more concerned about what Clara had been planning.

  While I was certainly glad it took some weight off of me potentially trying to break and enter myself, there was still risk involved. If we were going to accuse those criminals we secretly hired of being part of the rise in gun crime, then we’d need a little more evidence to back us up. Perhaps a little side quest for my patrol in the morning.

  Unfortunately, I was too driven with the desire to have my new hand to tell her to call it off. I didn’t have the stomach to ask Clara if it would be done before the Heroism Arena. Didn’t want the answer to be negative, even if was the realistic one.

  Perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to get a new and important upgrade right before having to use it to make or break my career. There would surely be teething issues. Could probably punch Maestro in the face with it, though.

  Not that I had that plan set in stone.

  Although I was still Maestro’s number one hater, I had cooled off on wanting revenge on him. At least for what he had put Roxy through - the super had gotten the upper hand in her own way without resorting to violence. That hatchet was buried, and she’d moved on.

  If he hadn’t challenged me, then that probably would have been it for him. He’d fade into the background and that chapter would have a suitable line drawn underneath it. But he just had to push for one last attempt to put us down. Everything we had worked for to get to this point now in jeopardy. For this reason, I’d show him no mercy.

  The desperation was clear as day, even in the terms he had put forth. I wasn’t so sure a sponsorship deal could just as easily be transferred to someone else, and nobody would want him in the Natural Disasters. Either he was fishing to see whether I was money or career focused, or he was trying to ruin us completely by taking the team down with him.

  It would only be more cliche if he had tried to fight me for Roxy’s hand, but he obviously no longer cared about her in that way - even if it would have made better television. He was using us for his career and to get back into the limelight, and wasn’t eager to have that cut short with one of us beating him to a pulp.

  Clara had a list of potential heroic scenarios that the Arena might contain, but hadn’t told me any yet. I just wanted to know if a fight was on the cards or not.

  With a sigh, I closed my eyes.

  The reason for my long soak wasn’t just because I had earned it, but I was also passing the time before a message came through. Stacy had mentioned the last of the contestants were being vetted and would be available this afternoon.

  Once I received that, I would go into the basement and scrape up any details on my competitors from Roxy’s murder-boards. As much as putting Maestro in his place was my goal, I had to rise above every else there.

  Ironic that after spending years being an unknown in the shadows, I would now be aiming to become the publicized star of a tournament of heroics, but life was chaotic. Ever changing.

  I lifted up one of my cybernetic feet from the water and regarded it. As much as I was becoming more machine than man, I didn’t feel any less of myself. The new me didn’t feel more like Bard, either - and I certainly wasn’t Agent W anymore. Perhaps the man I currently am was a primordial ooze. A mix of everything I had been and everything I wanted to be.

  Or perhaps I had been in the warm bath too long and was becoming soup.

  With a second, longer sigh, I decided to get out. Grabbed a towel and stood by the mirror. I leaned forward to inspect my face. With Roxy’s birthday coming up, I had wondered about my own age. The trouble with trying to gage such a thing based on appearance was that I didn’t know how much my super-soldier magic caused me to stay in peak form.

  Even with all the power behind me, I didn’t feel like much of a spring chicken. Maybe since we decided that my hero-day was also my birthday, we could also come to a consensus on an age for me.

  As I dried myself off, a message came through my STAR.

  //Clara: Don’t bother getting dressed. Come find me.

  //Dubs: Oxygen tank surgery?

  //Clara: Correct.

  //Dubs: Be there in five.

  It wasn’t going to be anything that required a long recovery, so this seemed like a good time to get it done. The ability to flush out my breathing tube was handy enough, but the built-in oxygen tank should give me a short period of being able to stay submerged in water or stuck in noxious gas. If I was going to be a cyborg, then I might as well grasp at some of the benefits offered to me.

  Although I wasn’t sure where the oxygen tank was actually going to fit. Clara would surely have an idea.

  I dressed my lower half but left my top off, figuring the techie might have to dig in there during the process. Down the stairs and I was immediately assailed by Warlock waiting in the lobby.

  [What ails you? Is this a request for uppies?]

  The sound he made confirmed it. I picked him up and took a detour to get a fresh canister from the kitchen before heading to the workshop. Another pleasant day outside. I hadn’t been informed of the plans to set up the command center out here, but this was soon to be a bustling hub, a far cry from my solitary shack.

  Pretty neat, all things considered.

  I pushed into the workshop to see Clara set up with her table and the bed all waiting for me. She raised an eyebrow at the guest I had brought along with me, but Warlock just started purring in response. After closing the door I placed Warlock down on the cat tree here. I wasn’t sure if I had been neglecting my cat-dad duties lately, but if not with Clara, then he seemed relatively content to do his own thing.

  “This should only take an hour at most, Gunquake,” Clara said, glancing over at me. “As long as there are no complications.”

  [How likely is that?]

  “There’s always a chance.” She gestured for me to lay on the bed. “The tank is enough for two minutes of breathing while your re-breather filter is closed off. Anything longer would be too heavy and may have issues, as I plan on installing it internally."

  [Is there room under my mask?]

  I glanced over at the tray to see the item, but it was much wider and longer than my canisters. Even if I could put it under my mask, it might be uncomfortable when moving around or with the additional weight.

  However, something else I noticed was the techie’s hand. She was wearing a fingerless tech glove on her right—which wasn’t that unusual when she was working—but my eyes were drawn to her index finger.

  [Since when did you have a cybernetic finger?]

  At first I thought it might be some manner of sleeve over the digit, but as it moved, it was clearly her actual finger. Skeletal, almost, but made of dark metal.

  “Hmm?” She hesitated, but just raised an aloof eyebrow. “You don’t have a monopoly on upgrades, you know?”

  [That was a voluntary choice?]

  “To… some degree. While I still have my severed finger and could have reattached it, I took the opportunity to practice my skills and utilize some tech we had languishing in stock.” Clara maintained a neutral expression.

  I wasn’t too sure whether I should be worried that she had lost a finger during her work here or not. The amount of tech development and other unknown processes she had been doing in secret clearly had some danger to them, and having it all done in what was essentially our backyard was… not ideal. I narrowed my eyes as I laid myself down on the bed.

  [Should I be worried you might get injured further?]

  “No. It’s very sweet that you would worry, Gunquake. It is a minor inconvenience, and a mistake that I won’t make again.” She picked up the tool used to unseal my mask. “Sometimes technical progress comes at a cost. You, of all people, should know sacrifices are often required.”

  I grunted, for lack of a better response. The parts of my new arm and whatever related tech utilized runes or that stolen artefact were in a different section of the workshop, so I couldn’t even spy anything to clue me in to how she had lost the finger. I wasn’t particularly pleased about it, but it was done now.

  [Will you need to put me out cold for this?]

  “Local anesthesia would be enough if you’re not too squeamish. Your choice.”

  [Awake. I’ll focus on the ceiling.]

  “As you wish.”

  I looked up at the plain white above me and sighed. Before I had the chance to relax and settle in for my surgery, a message bloomed up into my vision.

  //Silhouette: We need to talk. Tonight.