Aiden's parents departed that very night, called away on another "matter of important business."

Soon after they had left the room, Tancy leapt up from her chair and ran off to her room, sniffling loudly. Aiden was both too angry and thunderstruck to go after her and apologize. But he knew he was right: Tancy wasn't cut out for the job. It wasn't fair that he had spoken the truth and felt punished for it. It was even more unfair that his parents cut him out from the family business like that in the first place.

After all, what did his future look like after he graduated from Terminary? Work a regular desk jockey job? A laughable idea; he would either die of boredom or get fired eventually for hacking into their cloud servers for fun. Starting his own business didn't appeal to him, either. The little he knew of his parents' jobs consisted of making a lot of important decisions surrounded by boring people in a boring office building in the most boring way possible.

Okay, so maybe they were right in their decision, knowing Aiden wasn't cut out for the responsibilities of future CEO. But if he wasn't going to safeguard the family's holdings, what was he supposed to do?

As he did with all pressing concerns over his life's trajectory, Aiden pushed all complex notions out of his head and went with the simplest route forward: he would keep his nose clean. He would show his parents he was capable of being responsible, and maybe, just maybe, they would change their minds. One of the first steps towards this goal was the letter of apology that Principal Pakkel had demanded he write to Devon for inciting their fight (Aiden was delaying that until he could stomach the idea without feeling to urge to vomit), but besides that he could make many improvements. No more misbehaving, no pranks or vigilante justice — no stepping out of line.

This new resolution lasted for about a week.

--

Eight days after his parents left on their business trip, Aiden was in the Terminary locker room getting dressed for his regular game of ziv-ball, when the team captain Denver came in looking thoroughly disgruntled. The whole team was grouped around the donut-shaped chrome bench between the exo-lockers, cheerfully talking as they pulled on their ziv-suits. Upon Denver's entrance, the sounds of chatter and slamming doors died away.

"Bad news," he said tartly. "Louis bailed today for a date."

"Why?" chimed the twins Jukon and Juster simultaneously.

Denver shrugged. "I asked him the same thing. He said, 'cuz of titties', got on his roto-scooter, and took off."

"Are you serious?" blurted Mateo. "We're in the semifinals."

"I know," said Denver. "And we're facing Devon Shin's team today, and they're pretty good."

Aiden turned around so fast his neck cracked. Rubbing it gingerly, he said, "We're playing Devon? I thought they lost their last game."

"The scoring system messed up," said Denver. "They were matched wrong but the new data came in today. It's going to be tough working with our replacement."

"Where is he?" said Mateo curiously. "Don't tell me you got an underclassmen."

"It's a she, and she's a transfer. But she was the only one to volunteer when I sent the e-bulletin out, so screw it."

That was unusual. While most of the intramural sports were co-ed, this was the first time Aiden had heard of a lone girl joining an established all-male team.

He stood up. "Come on, Denver, we can't play with a newbie on the team. It's better to have five guys who can work together than dealing in a new player."

Denver looked at him with a hint of reproachfulness. "Hey, I know all about your little vendetta with Devon — you want to beat him, and I get that. But if we don't have a full roster before starting, we forfeit the match. Do you want to take a chance or not?"

"She hasn't even played before?" said Jukon. "She's gonna die."

"I told her the same thing..." Denver sounded tired of repeating himself. "And I gave her a run-down of the rules, but we'll have to hope she can take care of herself. She insisted on participating anyway, even came to me in person and —"

"Is she suited up?" Aiden cut in.

Denver nodded. "She's outside."

Aiden rose and slammed his exo-locker closed. The illuminated panel sealed itself with a tight, clicking noise and retracted into its bulky socket in the wall. He stalked towards the door.

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"Aiden, take it easy."

"Whatever," Aiden called over his shoulder. "As long as she doesn't get in my way."

He went down the hallway to the team waiting room: a small, rectangular lounge area adjacent to the arena, both of which were suspended a hundred feet above ground level.

The door slid open to reveal a pretty black girl, about Aiden's height, looking out the plexiglass windows. Package and transport drones zipped silently across their field of view like mechanical insects, their anti-grav generators pulsing purple from the bottom and their four stability rotors churning silver blurs in the air.

The girl turned. Her hair was done in short braids that swung around her shoulders. "Oh, hello."

"Are you the one subbing in for my ziv-ball team?" said Aiden curtly.

"I am," said the girl, her mouth quirking up in a dry grin. "Is that a problem?"

"Possibly," said Aiden. "If you don't know how to play."

"Your team captain gave me a pretty decent summary. I think I can get the hang of it."

"Oh, yeah? How about you tell me what you understand, then?"

The girl's eyes narrowed. "Do you always greet people this rudely?"

"Yeah, if there's school transfer that might screw up my chances of beating the other team. Not to mention that this is a high-contact sport. I don't know if you're aware, but once you're in the arena, the field locks down. You don't get out of it unless the game ends or you get injured — and in ziv-ball, you don't wanna get injured."

"I think you're forgetting the half-time break," pointed out the girl. "Before or after one team completes its three circuits around the track. Unless your captain gave me the wrong rules. I can tap out then."

"Besides that."

The girl raised an eyebrow, and he got the infuriating impression that she was humoring him. "Okay, so there's a ball. You take the ball and run it around the main track three times. After that, you try to score in the other team's goal. Easy."

"What happens if neither team completes three circuits?"

"The team with the longest travel length completed wins."

"Alright, what if both teams complete their circuits, but neither scores?"

"Then it's obviously sudden death."

"What about zoning sides during circuit completion?"

"What are you, the referee?"

"There is no referee," said Aiden. "Only reg-AI. It mediates, calls out fouls, counts points, and records the match. That's why it's better to not get injured. The AI will pause the game eventually, but the game's so fast-paced that you might not get pulled out soon enough even after you make a request."

The girl went back to the window. "Wow, that's wild." She sounded unfazed.

Aiden stared at her back. "Don't screw this up."

"Oh yeah, why's that?"

At that moment, the door to the waiting area opened again, and in walked in the opposing team. Tall and broad-shouldered with curly brown hair piled on top, Devon Shin was front and center; he smiled nastily when he spotted Aiden, a newly metal canine glinting.

"How you doing, chrome-bitch? Your face looks pretty good for someone who got their ass kicked last week."

"I like your new tooth," said Aiden. "Say the word and I can help you get another one just like it."

"That sounds an awful lot like a threat," said Devon. "Shall I report you to the admin again and free up another spot for Terminary admissions?"

"Nobody makes threats like the ones you made against my family."

Devon laughed. "I like to speculate, Huangy-Wongy. It's purely hypothetical, like if I wondered out loud if your family's bodies would smell worse from fire or incinerating plasma gel."

Aiden balled his hands into fists; it took every ounce of will for him to not leap forward and bash in Devon's head. Devon's smile grew wider.

"I'll see you on the court, short stuff. Don't pop a blood vessel before then."

Devon's team marched off to the lift that would transport them to the other side of the arena, leaving Aiden to seethe.

"You have a lot of friends around here, don't you?" said the girl, once they were alone again.

Aiden was about to make a retort when Juster and Jukon burst through the door, followed closely by Mateo. Both had their ziv-suits on and were looking extremely excited.

"Did you guys see the news? There's this — oh, hey new teammate — there's this massive shootout between a bunch of taggers and the cops a couple blocks from here."

"So?" said Aiden impatiently. It was rankling to see most of the team not as serious about the upcoming match as he was.

"So these guys are packing. It's the most heavily armed group they've seen since that weapons bust at Heavens Road. Cops are taking fucking casualties, man. Shit's blowing up. They're even calling in mechas and AIEN-enforcers from the other side of town to set up a perimeter."

The girl looked suddenly interested. "In broad daylight? Aren't most taggers thieves? What group is this?"

"That's the thing," said Mateo. "They don't know. These goons just popped out of nowhere and started shooting at a police convoy. Shit just happened ten minutes ago."

Aiden glanced out of the window at the hustle and bustle of traffic below. From here, everything looked perfectly normal. "Goon, please. You see shit like this when you're taking the subway. How big a deal can this be?"

At that moment, there was a tiny pop from outside the panel windows. They all swiveled just in time to see a line of smoke puff in the distance. Aiden registered a flicker of motion spiraling over the rooftops, and then a moment later a conical object came jetting at a terrific speed straight for their window, emitting bright blue exhaust from its rear end.

Mateo flinched, stumbling back. "Holy —"

Their entire field of view flared orange as Terminary's energy shield activated. Flames crackled and rolled over its jittering surface. Once they faded, the air cleared and the assaulted campus buildings were left as untouched as if passed over by a gentle breeze.

Other buildings weren't so lucky. Aiden saw another series of missiles arc off and collide with the side of an apartment complex, sending a bloom of fire into the air and obliterated masonry tumbling down into the streets below. Though the plexiglass windows dampened the impact, and the energy shield dispersed the shockwave, the sound of the explosions penetrated the walls with a low, ominous thrum.

Sirens filled the air outside as emergency vehicles rushed towards the scene of devastation. In the relative silence that followed, Juster cackled. "Goon, that was awesome."

But Aiden's attention was already diverted. Through the viewing screen on the opposite wall, the arena lights were switching on one by one. Devon's team was in their pre-game capsule being lowered to the field.

"Who cares about that?" he said flatly. "We have a game to win."