Evan, Marco, Rell, and little Glitch walked through the lowest, dirtiest parts of Neon City. The bright, blinding neon lights of the upper merchant streets faded away. Down here, the only light came from flickering, broken yellow bulbs hanging from rusty pipes. The air smelled strongly of sulfur, cheap alcohol, and old sweat. They walked in silence. Evan kept his head down, hiding his white hair under the collar of his dirty blue suit jacket. Marco limped heavily, his breathing sounding wet and painful. Glitch held tightly to Evan’s hand, terrified of the dark shadows. "We are here," Rell whispered. She stopped in front of a massive, heavy iron door. The door was set deep into the concrete wall of an old, abandoned water reservoir. There were no signs. There were no lights. Standing in front of the iron door was a man. He was not a normal man. He was a massive, terrifying cyborg. His entire left arm and chest were made of thick, bolted steel. He held a massive, heavy kinetic sho

"Place your bets," the dealer said nervously. Vargas tossed a gold token into the center. The other men matched it. Evan pushed his single, free gold token into the center of the wooden table. The dealer handed out the cards. Two cards face down for Vargas. Two cards for Evan. Evan did not even look at his own cards. He did not need to. He had seen the dealer’s thumb slide over the top card. He had seen the tiny smudge of grease. He knew he had a Ten. He knew his second card was an Ace. He had exactly twenty-one. Perfect Blood-Jack. "I will stay," Evan said, leaving his cards face down on the table. Vargas laughed loudly. "You do not even look at your cards, boy? You are a fool."Vargas flipped his cards over. He had a King and a Nine. Nineteen. It was a very strong hand. "I stay," Vargas grinned, showing his silver metal teeth. "Beat nineteen, street rat."Evan slowly reached out. He flipped his two cards over. Ten of Clubs. Ace of Spades. Twenty-one. The men at the table ga

The dark, wet alleys of Neon City felt like a giant maze. Evan Kennedy ran as fast as his tired legs could carry him. He held tightly to Glitch’s small hand. Marco ran behind them, holding his broken ribs, panting heavily. Rell led the way. The scavenger girl moved like a shadow, taking them through broken fences, down narrow stairs, and across old, rusted bridges. Behind them, the angry shouts of Vargas’s smugglers slowly faded away. The flash-bang grenades had worked. They had escaped the Rust Pit. Evan held a heavy leather bag in his right hand. The bag was filled with fifty solid gold time-tokens. In his left pocket, he felt the cold, smooth weight of the Black Key. It was the glowing black glass token that would open the door to Sector Zero. Finally, Rell stopped. She leaned against a dirty brick wall in a quiet, empty street. "We lost them," Rell gasped, wiping the cold rain from her forehead. "Vargas will look for us all night. But he will not find us here."Marco leaned

"He is not in the waiting pens," Evan said, pointing at the giant screen. "He is fighting next."Rell cursed loudly. "Orion owes a lot of money to the Syndicate bosses. He must have bet his own life to pay off his debt. If he loses this fight, he hits zero. The house takes his soul. We will lose our pilot.""Then we have to stop the fight," Evan said immediately. "We cannot stop the fight!" Marco argued. "Look around you, kid! There are two hundred heavily armed guards in this room! If we jump into the pit, they will shoot us instantly!""Marco is right," Glitch squeaked, hiding behind Evan’s leg. "We cannot fight a whole army."Evan stared at the glass pit. The first fight ended. The bleeding man fell to the floor. The crowd roared with laughter and applause. The heavy metal doors in the pit opened, and automated cleaning robots rolled out to drag the loser away and scrub the blood off the floor. "I am not going to jump into the pit," Evan said. His eyes narrowed. He watched the gl

Down in the pit, Brutus raised his massive hydraulic hammer high into the air. He aimed it directly at Orion. Orion tried to jump backward. But his boots slipped on the rigged, magnetic floor. Orion lost his balance and fell hard onto his back. He dropped his sword. Brutus smiled his ugly smile. He brought the giant hammer down to crush the pilot’s chest. "Now!" Evan yelled in his mind. Glitch sent the command through the wire. In the digital world, the bright blue lines of code under Orion’s back suddenly shattered. They turned to gray dust and vanished. The magnetic trick was broken. Evan snapped his eyes open. He dropped the perception. Time rushed back to normal speed. The loud noise of the crowd hit his ears. Down in the pit, the hammer came down. But Orion was no longer slipping. As soon as the floor returned to normal, Orion dug his boots into the concrete. He pushed off with incredible speed, rolling cleanly out of the way just a microsecond before the hammer hit the fl