“I won’t be late,” Owen told Amber. He was just outside the warehouse on the biggest day of the year. The Founding Day. Most of the corporate businesses were shut down on the festival day so the employees could see the parades with their families. It had to be the day of Owen’s final mission with the team. Whatever. After this he was free.

  “You better not be,” Amber said. “I’ve got your suit ready to go. Please don’t embarrass me by being late. This is really important. The Yamada and Seo families will be there. Not to mention the CEOs of every business worth knowing. I want to show you off.”

  “I’m never late.” A lifetime of fearing the repercussions of being late were drilled into Owen’s skull.

  “I know. Let me know when you’re on the way. I love you.”

  “I love you too.” Owen turned off his scratchpad and stowed it in the signal blocking cage outside. He didn’t know what to expect when he entered the warehouse, but Ben and Tom loading stolen explosives into the van while Naomi directed wasn’t it.

  “Hey, kid,” Ed said. “Hell of a day to do whatever it is we’re doing.” He shook his head. “I kind of like the parade. It makes me feel all nostalgic.”

  “Think we’ll be done before it starts?” He just promised Amber he wouldn’t be late.

  “I don’t know. Hope so.” Ed shrugged. “Hey. I forgot to give you these the other day.” He handed Owen a plastic bag. “Thought you could use something to protect those hands if you’re going to be throwing them at everyone.” A pair of gloves with metal lined knuckles sat in the bag. “Not even a specter could take a hit from one of these.”

  “Thanks,” Owen said with a smile. Ed didn’t seem to know this would be their last mission together. And if Ed didn’t know, on one else knew.

  “What do you think we’re hitting?” Vicky pulled off her jacket and draped it over the back of a chair before sitting. “Maybe we’re going to hit a bank.” She shifted her color cube. A couple sides were one solid color. “Been awhile since we topped off our funds.”

  “Could be a power plant,” Ed said. “Tuck said something about it once. Parade will make security lax in a lot of places. You have any guesses, Owen?”

  “Debt facility?”

  “You’re all wrong,” Tuck said. He was wearing one of the ECD resistant vests and had his long knife on his belt. A few fake peacekeeper helmets were sitting on the table next to a stack of papers and a scratch pad. “This is the big one.” He nodded and a wicked smile crossed his face. “The time has come for complete and total victory over the tyrants. Everyone sit down and listen up..” The team gathered around the table while Tuck pulled something up on his scratchpad. “I want to thank Owen specifically for all the work he has done toward the cause. When he came to us he was greener than grass, but because of him we’ve won.” Tuck pulled up a schematic. “This is our target.”

  A cold silence fell over the group as Tuck showed them the target. There was no mistaking it for anything other than what it was, and still Owen didn’t understand why they were looking at it. It couldn’t be possible. No. Fuck no.

  “What the fuck, Tuck,” Ed said. “Is that a joke?”

  “That’s Callahan Tower,” Scott said. The former peace keeper shifted uncomfortably.

  “No shit,” Vicky sneered. She set her cube down and crossed her arms. “I don’t get it.”

  “This is what we’ve been prepping for all year,” Tuck said with a grin. “Everything we’ve done has been to further this singular goal. The hard drives we retrieved from that architect's office contained detailed blue prints of Callahan tower. But that wouldn’t have mattered if Owen hadn’t got us the codes from Amber’s scratchpad. All the Callahan kids have full access to the tower, and tonight no one will question them coming by.”

  “I don’t get it,” Owen said plainly. “What’s the goal here.”

  “He wants to bring the fucking tower down,” Ed said, the disbelief in his voice apparent. “Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me, Tuck!”

  “You’re not,” Tuck said coldly. “That’s why we needed to spring Ben. He used to work in demolitions. But we needed the building plans for him to come up with an actual plan to knock it down. We’ve got enough explosives to bring the tower down twice. The entire tower ceases operations on founding day. There won’t be any employees inside barring a few security agents. Biggest security threats will be on the front doors and top floors. We’ll be taking a side entrance for employees.”

  “There’s a party on the top floor,” Owen said.

  “Where we won’t be.” Tuck swiped to another schematic. “We’ll plant explosives at critical points. Once we’re safely away we’ll free City Seven from its tyrants once and for all. It won’t be just the Callahans. The Yamadas, the Seos, the Mulligans, the CEO of Maestro, every elite fuck that wants to keep their boots on our necks will be there. And we’ll get them all at once. City Seven kings fall tonight!”

  “What about everyone else?” Ed asked. They were quiet.

  “What about them?” Tuck asked.

  “There are going to be families at the parade,” Ed said, the disbelief in his voice apparent. “Thousands of citizens, Tuck. Veterans march during the parade. School bands play music the entire time. You will kill tens of thousands of citizens. This is fucking insane.” Ed chuckled as he shook his head. “Is this what you’ve been planning the whole time? Really? You didn’t get enough civilian casualties in the service?”

  “This is war,” Tuck said. “This is how we win.” He stowed his scratchpad. “We’ll ride the transport right into the underground parking garage and start from the bottom up. If we run across any security we’ll take them out quietly. Naomi will spoof the cameras to show last year’s feed. We’ll be like ghosts.”

  “Is this really the best way?” Vicky asked.

  “It’s the only way,” Naomi said. She toyed with a long knife and sucked her teeth. “Brad died for this. We’re going to get revenge for him and everyone else the Callahans wronged. We’ll change everything."

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “This is the best chance we’re going to get,” Tuck said. “These are the people that killed Brad. These are the people that drown us in debt and keep us there while they live it up. I watched my men die so they could expand their wealth!” Tuck slammed his fist on the table. “They’d imprison and enslave us just to make themselves a couple of credits. Not after tonight. This is going to be the land of the free again. We’ll bring down the tower, and then we’ll knock down the walls and make this a free city.”

  “We can’t do it like this, Tuck,” Ed said. Owen saw his hand go low. His fingers brushed a knife poking out of his boot. “There’s got to be another way, brother”

  “This is the only way.”

  Ed drew his knife and went for Tuck’s neck. He missed by a centimeter, his knife grazed Tuck’s neck and produced a thin line of blood. Naomi didn’t miss. She slammed her knife into Ed’s back and he howled as he crashed through the table.

  “What the fuck?” Tom shouted. Everyone was on their feet screaming at each other. Scott pulled Naomi away. Owen and Vicky knelt beside a wheezing Ed. The knife went right through a lung. Fuck there was a lot of blood.

  “What’d you do that for?” Tuck shouted at Naomi. “Shit, Ed! What the hell, man? Get him on a table.” Tom and Scott dragged Ed to a table and laid him down gently. “Fuck!” Tuck kicked a chair. “We don’t have time for this. We’ll set up and we’ll come back for him.”

  “He needs help now,” Owen said. He held his hands on Ed’s chest wound. Warmth spread across his fingers. “He’ll die.”

  “He’s a soldier,” Tuck said as he shook his head. “That’s his job. Everyone get your gear. We’re heading out in ten. Traffic is going to be a nightmare.”

  “We’re not doing this, Tuck,” Owen said. Ed’s blood was hot on his hands. Adrenaline flooded his body. “I’m not going to let this happen.” He didn’t sign up to kill thousands of citizens. This wasn’t fighting against injustice. It was plain and simple evil.

  “Relax, Owen,” Tuck said, hands up. “We just set up and hit a button, and it’s all done. Forever. We win.”

  “And you’re all okay with that?” Owen asked the team. “Do you really want to do this?”

  “They’ll never stop taking from us,” Scott said. “It’s time to take from them.”

  “This is a long time coming,” Ben added. “We’re better off without all those rich assholes and everyone who worships them.”

  “They killed Brad,” Naomi snarled. She wiped Ed’s blood off on a rag.

  “I want some payback,” Tom said.

  They were all crazy. Owen looked to Vicky for support but she just looked away. Ed was dying and Owen was on his own. He couldn’t let this happen.

  He swallowed and attacked. He cracked Tuck on the chin with his bare knuckles and threw a kick into Naomi’s gut. He had the element of surprise, but not for long. Tuck reeled back as Tom and Scott threw their weight on Owen to hold him in place.

  “The ECD!” Scott shouted.

  Pain ripped through Owen as Vicky zapped him with Scott’s ECD. It took all the fight out of him in an instant and everything went black. When he came to, he was handcuffed to a pipe on the wall and the transport and the team were long gone.

  “Fuck no!” Owen yanked at the handcuffs. He tried to slip his hand out but they were fastened tight. “Fuck!” Amber was going to be on top of Callahan Tower. Those crazy fuckers were going to kill her and thousands of others and it wasn’t going to fix a goddamned thing. The clock was ticking away faster than ever and Owen didn’t even know how long he was out. “Ed! Ed!”

  “Still alive, kid?” Ed wheezed. He coughed a gob of blood. “That bitch got me good. Never liked her. You okay? Thought they fried you.” He took a hard breath.

  “They’re gone. How fucked are we?” Owen pulled the handcuffs. He wasn’t getting out without a tool. He didn’t have anything!

  “On a scale of one to a hundred?” Ed struggled to sit up and hacked blood. “Ah shit. One ten.”

  “Lay down. I’ll figure a way out.” Owen put both feet against the wall and pulled so hard his arm might’ve popped out of the socket.

  “No you won’t.” Ed hit the ground and crawled toward a cabinet in the corner of the warehouse. He left behind a wide trail of blood. “Those cuffs are tough. PK standard issue.” He crawled to his feet and grabbed something from the cabinet before he lumbered to Owen and shoved a cuff key in his hand. “Always hide a spare.” Blood leaked out of his smile. He pale. Like a living corpse.

  “I’ll get you help,” Owen said as he freed himself.

  “Fuck that.” Ed pushed him away. “Call the peacekeepers. The tower. Can’t let Tuck do it.”

  “What about you?”

  “I had a good run. Longer than I should of.” Ed propped himself against a wall. “You know Eriko’s going to be up there?”

  “Who?”

  “Eriko Yamada. I should’ve been braver. Maybe if I had a Sensei Hardknuckle in my head I wouldn’t have run away.” Ed hit Owen with another blood drenched smile. “Stop Tuck. Don’t worry about me. I’d rather be dead than rot in Black Hill. Do what you need to do.” Owen could tell Ed was struggling to keep his eyes open.

  “Goodbye, Ed,” Owen said before he ran outside to get his scratchpad. He started to call the city’s emergency services, stopping when his finger hovered over the confirm call button.

  “What are you doing?” Sensei Dan asked.

  “I can’t do it like this,” Owen said. He took a minute to think. “It’s not right. This is my mess.”

  He ran back inside the warehouse and retrieved the gloves Ed made for him and the ECD resistant vest Tuck bought for him. He didn’t need to check on Ed again. He could tell the man was dead from the way he was slumped over. Another casualty of Tuck’s war.

  “I’ll give them one last chance to stop,” Owen said.

  “And if they don’t agree?” Sensei Dan asked. “What’ll you do?”

  “I’ll do what I need to. The Hardknuckle way.” Owen grabbed his tonfa and sprinted to the transit station. He had his first stop in mind.

  Amber opened the door furious. Owen kissed her. She was beautiful in her black dress and matching faux fur scarf. He could’ve stayed with her all night, but he didn’t have time to waste. Time kept moving as Tuck’s team rigged Callahan Tower to blow.

  “Where have you been? What are you wearing?” Amber asked, annoyance in her tone. “I asked you to be early. We’re already missed the intro to the parade. Is that blood? It’s on my dress!” Owen glanced at the blood on his sweater. He shed it and threw it away. “What’s happening?”

  “Amber, listen to me,” Owen said. “I love you. I love you so much. And I need to tell you something important. But I need you to stay here tonight, okay?”

  “What are you—,”

  “I don’t have time to explain.” Owen took her by the shoulders and she gasped. “I will come back and tell you everything. I promise.” He hoped. “Please stay here. Don’t go to the tower. It’s not safe. Make up an excuse. Stay away from the parade. Please do this for me. I need you to be safe.”

  “You’re scaring me,” Amber said, her mascara marred by tears. “What is happening?”

  “There’s no time. Tell me you’ll stay here until I get back. Promise me you won’t go to the tower!”

  “I’ll stay here,” Amber said. He didn’t know if it was the urgency in his voice that did it, or if she trusted him that much, but he believed her. “When you come back. I want an explanation.”

  “I will,” Owen said.

  He grabbed her scratchpad from the counter and his white Conolin jacket he left at her apartment. No time to turn back anymore. He had to leave his concern for Amber behind if he wanted to stop Tuck and the others. Hopefully without violence.

  Next stop, Callahan Tower.