After a long day of work, David is about to head home sweaty, smelly, muscles sore.

  Fuzanglong slaps him on the back.

  "Your day's not over, rookie."

  He says it with a loud, commanding voice.

  "The worst part is only starting."

  David follows him. They arrive at an eatery that sells meat, ribs, and chicken.

  David is about to order when Fuzanglong speaks.

  Fuzanglong: "I'll have the meat and chicken, two sets of ribs, and a rib burger. Give him the same."

  David: "So much? I can't finish all that. I won't be able to walk."

  Fuzanglong: "Too bad. That's your next task. Eat it all. Doesn't matter how long just finish."

  Their food is served by a drone. Four large plates two each.

  They start eating. David lags behind. After an hour, he's done.

  Stuffed.

  Fuzanglong: "Good work. Next week will be worse. Go sleep early today and the next day."

  David leaves, looks back Fuzanglong orders a second round.

  He goes home anyway.

  A full week of that tires him out. He feels like he's made no progress.

  The Weekend

  Xuelong: "Time for training, rookie. One-on-one tag for now. You're slow. Come at me tag me, weakling. First."

  David: "But why? Ahh, fine. I'll tag you."

  He goes for the tag misses. Then a surprise tag attempt misses again.

  Xuelong: "Tag me already."

  David dashes to tag him fails again.

  Back at the small village Kiro

  Kiro looks at his new house. Nice and big.

  Veyra: "You like it, Kiro? They made yours special bigger than ours. They said each of us is unique. You've got a home gym and a management area for tasks. Next place to go is the gaming room, with a place to watch FutureTube movies and shows."

  "Then me? I got a slightly smaller one like the others. Mainly a place to work on my suit and the ship engine stuff."

  "Then Raiji he got a sword collection room with a gym too."

  "Then new member Aurora has the same as mine, but for all technology. She'll upgrade my suit."

  Kiro: "Nice. We got upgrades. What's next?"

  Veyra: "A dojo for Raiji and the mayor's headquarters."

  Back at the city of Briarwood.

  David walks to the Guildmaster.

  Guildmaster: "I see you're ready for your first job. There's a low-level thief who escaped police arrest. His name is Jeff a wanted criminal. Small-time drug traffic and stealing. Bounty is 5,000 credits. Can you do it?"

  David smiles. "Finally, it's my time to shine. Where could he be right now?"

  Guildmaster: "He mostly hangs around the airports at night. Try there. But heads up don't cross me like your captain did. He's one evil man."

  David nods and walks away.

  He goes out for his daily task at Sam's. He works on a rusted old floating truck.

  Sam: "And done. It was the jets. The magnets wore out only old trucks get that problem. The magnets are all used up, but new ones run faster and last a billion cycles. They just need that fuel to replace them. Thanks for all the help. Do me a favor give that jet we fixed to Eric. He wants one."

  David: "Sure. But aren't we going to reuse this truck?"

  Sam: "Hell no. This truck's too old. Might as well replace the jets and some other parts. The cover we can reuse, but just for show. It'll break again."

  David: "Makes sense might need to learn more."

  He goes to Eric and delivers it.

  Eric: "Thanks. I need it. You Air Force boys ain't too bad. But your captain? He's in some bad stuff. I shouldn't say."

  David leaves.

  He waits for nightfall while working at the Dome for extra credits.

  David waits, watching for any odd characters out of place.

  Then he sees a man in a hoodie emerge from the shadows. David tails him to a meeting spot with people in a truck. They hand him money. He walks away.

  David keeps following. The man disappears.

  Then David keeps walking and gets sent flying, a fist landing in his gut.

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  David: "What was that?"

  Jeff: "Who might you be? Following me? Bounty hunter? No Air Force grunt. This'll be easy."

  Then he disappears, reappears, and punches again. But this time David saw it coming and still got sent flying.

  Jeff: "Stay down. You're a rookie, right?"

  David gets up. "Wait that didn't hurt. Unlike the manager. This won't be that hard."

  Then again same trick. Disappear, reappear right in front of David.

  David catches his arm and punches him, then kicks him. Jeff goes flying, blood spilling from his mouth.

  David: "You're really weak."

  Jeff: "What are you? I know my invisible tech is cheap, but still"

  He tries the same move again, but David predicts it. He dashes forward and punches him in the face. Jeff flies back, eyes white.

  David: "My training's paying off."

  He looks at his hand.

  "Doesn't look like it, but that food and playing tag made me stronger and faster. The weights too for power."

  "But not just that. Helping Sam the heavy lifting at the dome and tree chopping that was never really free work. It was training. Back training and strength training."

  Time to put a collar and handcuffs on him for pickup. Can't wait for them to arrive, so just put that on.

  He slips the restraints on him with ease.

  Jeff: "How is a rookie this strong? Why do you have to go after me? You really should go after your captain."

  "He's the supplier. I'm just the one collecting the credits a middleman. Do credit chip delivery. Untraceable."

  "Even if you got me, you won't know who it comes from. And you won't nail the captain your captain. What's the point?"

  David looks surprised. "The captain does drug smuggling?"

  Jeff: "Not just any drugs. Not the cheap kind. The White V5 and other improved ones. You know White V5 is first, but now there's the Rage Virus on the market. That truck had it. And not just that banned cyberware too."

  David leaves and reports back to the Guildmaster.

  Guildmaster: "Troubling news. Your captain is part of this scheme. But nothing we can do about it as much as I want to."

  David: "But why? We can nail him with Jeff as a witness."

  Guildmaster: "He won't talk. The Syndicate is too big. As much as I want all White V5 off the market, there's no word to him yet. We must be slow. Need to build a case against him."

  A week later—of hard work and training.

  The Lieutenant Colonel has arrived at base. Everyone stands at attention, welcoming the Colonel.

  Major: "Get ready, men. The Colonel will speak about the recent attack on the Dome. Your captain should be here."

  The captain salutes him. "I am here, sir."

  The Lieutenant Colonel steps forward a 60-year-old man in white Air Force attire. "Men, regarding your recent encounter with the Syndicate I must award you for a good job handling the thieves."

  The Major opens a case of awards.

  Lieutenant Colonel: "Captain, step forward. Due to your bravery, here is an award the Silver Eagle. Great job beating most of them without fail."

  Then David salutes and steps forward. "Sir, that's all wrong, if I may talk"

  The Major looks upset. "Rookie, don't step out of line."

  Lieutenant Colonel: "No, no. Let the rookie speak. We can cook him alive later. He has something to say."

  The captain looks very upset.

  David: "Sir, he did not do all those things. In fact, he never took down one man. Sorry, sir."

  The Colonel raises an eyebrow. "How interesting. Captain, is this true?"

  Captain: "No, sir. I took care of half of them."

  David: "Sir, it was the Dome."

  The Lieutenant Colonel raises his hand.

  "For your bravery, rookie, you get the Golden Eagle and the Medal of Airman (E-2). So now, next problem. Due to the situation here, I said I'd cook you alive. Rookie's name?"

  David: "It's David, sir."

  Colonel: "Well, you'll be fighting your captain in two weeks. Prepare."

  Both the Major and Lieutenant Colonel walk away.