Plain-Man rolled through darkness away from the stranger who was bent on attacking him.

“You’re making a mistake.”

“You’re the one making a mistake by being here in the first place!”

“But, I’ve been hired too!”

Whomever he was dealing with, Plain-Man could see him move dimly through the night and charge for another takedown. This time however, Plain-Man sprawled back, catching the stranger like a bull by the horns and struggled to get the upper hand. Wrapping his arm behind his neck and grabbing his right wrist, Plain-Man got his opponent in a cowcatcher and he used his weight to throw him over his hip onto the desert floor.

“Now, just calm down and we can talk it out to get to the bottom of this…”

“Calm down!? I’m just getting started!”

Just then, the stranger wormed his way out of Plain-Man’s hold and immediately stood up and punched Plain-Man in the face, who fell backwards.

Quickly picking himself up, Plain-Man did his best to dodge and defend himself from the shadowy punches that flew at him from all directions, hitting a good number of times on the jaw and side of his head. But, after a minute Plain-Man got used to his opponent’s rhythm of motion and he got in a good counterpunch, and the stranger fell backwards from the blow.

“Just who are you?” Plain-Man questioned, trying to reason with whomever he was dealing with.

“If you must know the name of the man who defeats you… My name is Fight Man!”

At once, Fight Man ran through the dark, picking up his leg and directly kicked Plain-Man in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him.

“…you…!” was all he could get out, as Plain-Man struggled to breathe again.

“Give up?” Fight Man said, already satisfied with his apparent victory.

“Not a chance!” Plain-Man said, still struggling.

Mustering up a new wave of strength, Plain-Man picked up his mitts, protecting his face, and did his best to hit the tenebrous moving target as fast as he could. Finally he was able to bop Fight Man on the eye, and immediately could tell he got a good shot in. Fight Man exclaimed in pain and backed away, rubbing his face from the blow.

“Will you just listen to me? My name is Plain-Man and I’m on the Quick! app too! Obviously there’s been some kind of confus–” Before he could finish, Fight Man again tackled him to the ground and both struggle to get the upper hand.

It was pretty evenly matched and who knows how long the fight would’ve gone on for, until suddenly, while the two were rolling on the dirt, they became drenched in a bright light like the sun had appeared in the night at that very instant.

“Hold it right there!” a much louder voice demanded, projected by some sort of megaphone.

The two looked up and realized a huge SUV had rolled up and illuminated their struggle.

“Cease your fighting immediately!”

After observing the man and the vehicle, the two turned to each other and hastily backed away from one another.

Fight Man, picking himself up, yelled “Yeah, and just who are you!?”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“You two are trespassing on private property!”

“Aw, jeez. Not this again.” Plain-Man said, rubbing his eyes.

“Trespassing!” Fight Man shouted even louder this time, “Why should we listen to you!?”

Plain-Man looked at his opponent who he had just been struggling and was now illuminated by the headlight. He didn’t wear a mask, but instead had a bandana wrapped around his head and wore what looked like a black Gi that martial artists wear.

All of a sudden, they both heard the engine turn off, the lights still remaining on, and the man over the megaphone stepped down from the vehicle and approached.

“I work for Dullenhut Private Security. We monitor this facility and have the contractual obligation to evict all trespassers by any means necessary, which you would have known if you’ve read the hundreds of signs surrounding this place.”

“I did read the signs,” said Plain-Man, “The thing is, I’ve also been contracted to take care of trespassing on this base as well, at least, for tonight.”

“Yeah, me too!” Fight Man said, speaking up as well. Plain-Man gave him a look of imbroglio.

“What? That’s not possible.” The man stepped forward into the light and now Plain-Man could see he was big and muscular, had a mohawk, and wore sunglasses, tactical pants, combat boots, and a tight t-shirt.

“Here, I’ll show you.” Plain-Man went to get his phone from his pocket but it wasn’t there and remembered he had dropped it somewhere during the struggle. He looked around and couldn’t see anything until he realized a familiar sound was ringing in his ear. The chiming notification from the Quick! app blared from somewhere near on the ground and he headed directly to source. Plain-Man was perturbed though to find out his phone had been under Fight Man’s foot the entire time.

“Sorry, thought that was a rock.”

Brushing the pebbles and dirt from the screen, he then tapped the notification and showed the Quick! app to the Dullenhut man.

“See? It doesn’t say who originally contracted out the mission, but it is compliant with official Autonomous Governance legislation.”

“Hmm… I’m still going to have to ask you to vacate the premises because we have direct correspondences with the owners of this facility and they’ve made it clear that no one is to be on this property.” The security guard said, “We’re going to look into this issue with the Quick! app and figured out how your contracts went through…”

The man returned to the driver side of the huge SUV and just before he entered, shouted, “Alright boys, time to go!”

Slamming the door, he revved up the engine and inched forward as encouragement for Fight Man and Plain-man to get a move on. They looked at each other, probably remembering they had just been fighting, but then turned and began slowly walking towards the bus stop.

The next bus still wouldn’t arrive for another fifteen minutes, so Plain-Man and Fight Man were forced to sit together at that bench, waiting. Plain-Man stood up and looked back at the base.

“You know, they really had no right throwing us off the base like that. Something’s fishy is going on here and they’re involved with it somehow.”

“Involved? Involved with what?”

“That weird sound I heard, and the giant wolf that attacked me. I guarantee you they know something.”

“I didn’t hear any weird sounds. Are you sure you’re not crazy?”

“…What? No! I’m being honest. Something attacked me, though it didn’t leave a mark… but I know what I saw.”

“Yeah, maybe if you were a better fighter, you wouldn’t have to worry so much…”

“Better fighter!? What are you talking about? I had you on the floor before they showed up!”

Fight Man stood up and responded determinately, “You want me to show you the truth right now!” he put up his fists.

Plain-Man observed his posture and attire for a second, thought it over, and laughed. “You know you’re supposed to be wearing a mask if you’re using the Quick! app, right?”

“I don’t need a mask, I’m not afraid to give away my identity.”

“That’s not the reason why you do it. It’s so you don’t confuse the argus algorithms and their observance of citizens behaviors with your violent actions.”

“Ah, screw the stupid computers, I don’t care. I just want to fight.”

“Why’d you call yourself Fight Man, anyways? Let me guess, it’s because you like to fight?”

“Yes. It’s best to just make it clear what your intentions so people can know exactly what you’re there for by your name alone.”

“Well, that I can understand.”

Off in the distance, the growing headlights of an e-bus zoomed towards them.

“You know Fight Man, we should try doing a mission together sometime. Who knows, maybe we would make a good team.”

“No way, I don’t need anyone helping me. I work alone.”

The bus came to a halt in front of the two and Fight Man headed to the door that just opened. At that moment, Plain-Man received a notification on his phone and checked it right before stepping onto the bus.

[Quick! App update: Congratulations, You have received 33.33 friendly credits!]