Built from the shell of an ancient foundation, the Arx Colosseum has undergone renovations to allow multiple new configurations for battle. Its spectator setup remains largely the same, with high walls, tall enough for even the most savvy Jedi to find unscalable that lead up to spectator chairs which are divided into nearly organized sections to accommodate several thousand people. At the center, an elongated platform “box” contains a central throne of stone with various seats of smaller scale lined beside it in both directions. Two large holo-projection screens are set up on each side of the Colosseum, offering different angles of the match bia holocam drones.

Today’s setup is known as The Shanty Town.

Hundreds of shipping containers line the arena floor, some stacked tall, others singular obstacles forming the walls of a complex maze. Each has been converted to function as housing, windows, doors, even furnishments added to further sell the illusion of it being a living town.

While the only real life contained within is today’s combatants, that is far from the only level of danger found within.

Dozens of armed and battle-ready droids hide in wait. Turrets and barricades line the narrow passageways of the town. Expertly hidden mines wait to trigger with every step. Make no mistake, the Shanty Town is ready to kill all who enter it. Embracing its chaos, and surviving is no easy feat.

Lucine paused just inside the Colosseum as the gates swung shut behind her. She found herself at the edge of a maze of shipping containers, stacked and arranged to resemble a makeshift town. Many of the shipping containers had windows cut into them, and through those windows, she could see roughly made furniture providing some semblance of interior decoration. The attention to detail was impressive, even if the decorator’s taste was dubious.

She glanced up at the massive holoprojectors that loomed over the heads of the spectators on either end of the Colosseum. Her image was featured on one, and she took a moment to toss her hair over her shoulder and appreciate the way her matte black armor accentuated her figure. Ordinarily, her armor would be hidden under the artful illusion of some stylish dress or another, but such deception was not necessary today. There was little doubt as to her purpose here.

Her eyes strayed to the opposite screen, which featured her opponent as she strode over the sand. Morgan Sorenn had changed significantly since the last time they had met. Grief and loss left their indelible marks on the lines of her face and in the gray strands of hair that stood starkly against her dark curls. She moved with lupine grace at an easy saunter, searching for her prey. There was a predatory light in her mismatched eyes and a grim smile on her lips in anticipation of the blood she would soon shed.

Morgan’s very aura exuded power and violence. Lucine could feel it through the holoprojector screen. She knew that she was outmatched. But Lucine was not here to defeat Morgan; she had other goals in mind. But for those goals to have any chance of success, she would have to actually talk to Morgan without getting beaten to a pulp first.

She bent down to set POR-7 on the ground before murmuring a few commands to it. The ID9 droid skittered off on spindly legs, intent on its task as it disappeared among the shipping containers.

The shanty town was arranged in a large circle, shipping containers placed haphazardly to create a labyrinth of passages and corridors. The only clear areas were two main thoroughfares that bisected the circle and met at the center.

She noted that Morgan had chosen to take the main road. Not a surprising choice for a woman who was secure in her power and dominance. So Lucine took off in a run down one of the narrow passageways. She took turns seemingly at random, knowing that every step brought her closer to her opponent.

One left turn revealed a barricade made from crates and broken-down machinery. Lucine drew upon the dark side of the Force, feeding its energies into her muscles. She jumped, clearing the barricade easily but nearly landing on top of the turret that had been hidden on the other side. It swiveled on its base, barrels aimed at her as it fired.

Lucine cursed inwardly as she twisted in mid-air, relying on her momentum to carry her forward. The laser projectiles missed her by inches, searing into the metal shipping container behind her. She hit the ground running as she snatched her lightsaber from her belt. The emerald green plasma flared to life, narrowly deflecting a shot that would have struck her in the chest.

She whirled her lightsaber, deflecting the lasers as she moved closer to the turret. One projectile impacted against the ground further down the passageway, causing a hidden mine to explode with a deafening roar, tearing a hole into the makeshift walls on both sides. Finally, when she was near enough, she slashed with her blade, cutting the turret in two.

The shots stopped, leaving the distant roar of the crowd as the only sound.

“Well, I suppose that got her attention,” Lucine murmured. She hastily turned to take in her surroundings. Most of the shipping containers nearby formed a single level, but there were a few that were stacked on top of one another to simulate multistory buildings. Gradually, the beginnings of a plan began to form in her mind.

Sure enough, Morgan soon came striding along the passageway from the main thoroughfare. The dark-haired woman glanced around, her lips pressed together as she took in the scene. There was a deep crater where the mine had once been, and its blast had left the walls of the adjacent shipping containers twisted and ruined. The turret was silent, still smoking from the damage Lucine had inflicted upon it.

“There is no point in hiding,” she called out. There was no malice in her voice. It was a mere statement of fact.

“Oh, I am fully aware of that, darling,” Lucine replied, resorting to telepathy to avoid giving away her location. ”According to the oddsmakers, the chances of my success against you are twenty to one. Sadly, I am inclined to agree with them, so I did not take that bet.”

For a moment, Morgan’s eyes narrowed, a sure sign that she was calling upon the Force. She then turned and looked upward, directly at the shipping container that had been stacked on top of the one whose wall had been destroyed by the mine.

Lucine saw through the window that Sorenn was looking directly at her, and wiggled her fingers in an airy wave. ”Incidentally, there was also a side bet that was seeing a lot of action. Twenty to one that I would not last ten minutes once we found each other. I did take that bet.”

Morgan’s calloused hands flexed as she took a few steps toward the stacked shipping containers. “You actually took a bet against yourself?”

”I have a realistic assessment of our relative capabilities. But I do think I could manage another nine minutes and thirty-two seconds against you,” Lucine replied with a shrug as she backed away from the window. ”Winning that bet would go a long way toward funding my personal endeavors. So I would consider it a favor if you would let me survive to collect my winnings.”

“And why would I do that?”

From below, there was a whoosh of thrusters being engaged. Morgan shot up from the ground level, carried by the jetpack in her boots, to land heavily on a narrow ledge just outside of the container that Lucine had taken refuge in.

This close, the redhead could feel the aura of fear that Morgan wore around herself like a cloak. She felt her mouth go dry as her heart began to hammer in her chest. What if this gambit did not pay off?

Instinctively, she glanced around the shipping container. It was decorated only with a flimsy wooden table and a single chair. The floor was covered with frayed canvas. The only entrance was the door immediately behind her.

The lack of a door was not an impediment to Morgan. Lucine heard the familiar snap-hiss of an igniting lightsaber. A moment later, the plasma blade punched through the wall, sparks flying as the dark-haired woman began to cut her way through.

Lucine placed a trembling hand on the doorknob and opened the door just a crack. She could see three combat droids moving along the passageway below. For the moment, it seemed that their sensor arrays had not picked up on her.

”I would think a woman of your intellect would see the benefit of being owed such a favor,” she replied. Amazingly, her mental voice held none of the terror she felt. ”In the time since our last meeting, my intelligence-gathering capabilities have increased significantly. I am willing to devote those resources toward helping you find the people responsible for those you have lost.”

Morgan lashed out with her foot, kicking in the rough circle of metal that she had cut into the wall. It fell inward with a loud clang, allowing her to step into the room. She turned her gaze on Lucine, her left eye burning with dangerous light. She extinguished her lightsaber, and pulled out a vibroknuckler.

One step. Two. Morgan was now halfway across the container from her, and still she had not answered. It was all Lucine could do to keep her breathing even, though her hand closed tightly around her lightsaber in a white-knuckled grip. Perhaps bringing up Morgan’s dead children had been a misstep. The rage in the dark-haired woman’s face only confirmed it.

Rage gave way to surprise as she took another step, causing the floor to give out beneath her. Morgan pitched forward, falling through a hole that had been cut into the metal. The canvas that had covered it tangled around her as she fell into the shipping container below with a heavy thud, dragging the table and chair through to land on top of her. The battle droids outside turned their sensor arrays toward the sudden movement, weapons humming to life.

Lucine did not linger to see how Morgan would deal with the droids. Instead, she took off at a run through the hole Morgan had cut in the opposite wall moments before. She only had to hold out for another seven minutes and fifty-nine seconds. And survive, of course.

Instinct kicked in even before Morgan knew she was falling, and she would have caught herself — rolled, spun, jumped, something other than falling flat — but for the karkin’ canvas wrapping her like a Mygeeto burrito and the furniture at her back pressing her down. She slammed into the floor, her vibroknuckler, knocked out of her grasp, and clattered across the floor and down an open stairway, out of reach. Her arms barely protected her face from the impact, just as the chair knocked against the back of her head. The all-too-familiar crack of her nose dislocating against the metal floor filled her ears. Pain flashed through her body — head, ribs, legs, shoulders and all. It filled her mind with murderous intent and focused it on a singular vile desire.

The battle droids meandered in, around, and across the makeshift furniture. Blasters leveled, triggers squeezed, and plasma crackled toward the former Captain. Sensing danger, Morgan had untangled enough to move. Fueled by her rage, in a blink of their optics she jumped in between the duo narrowly dodging the blaster bolts aimed at her head. Her saber momentarily flashed to life as she bifurcated both in a single, precise movement. She landed on her feet with the grace of Rancor, the metal flooring underneath nearly giving way.

The black-core blade fizzled out, the droids crumbled in on themselves, Morgan straightened, spat a gobbet of bloody spit, and rearranged her nose. Despite her annoyance and discomfort, her fury subsided, at least for the moment. The crowd outside cheered loudly, only now catching up to what had happened.

Should have worn the kriffin’ helmet, she thought as she took a moment to wipe the droplets of blood from her nostrils and stretched her aching limbs. Taking a swig from a flask on her belt she hissed through her teeth and smiled. Corellian whiskey always soothed her problems and focused her mind.

A drone floated into the building through a window and focused on her, grabbing her attention. The former Captain sneered into the drone’s optics, just barely restraining herself from crushing the orb, instead turning her attention to more important things. There were still seven minutes left to catch her sly opponent and finish this match, perhaps even to deny Lucine her prize. Plenty of time, she thought. Replacing the flask into its holster, she fidgeted with her chronometer. The device beeped, its timer starting to count down. 00:07:00. There would be payment for playing Lucine’s game, and Morgan wasn’t sure the younger woman was quite ready for what she was due.

A moment of concentration and focus passed as Morgan sensed her quarry, off to her right, up, then down, jumping over exposed balconies and rooftops, avoiding arena defenses with every elegant step. Lucine was far enough away to lead Morgan on a wild goose chase across the arena just to waste time. An inkling of a plan emerged: she could use the shanty town’s traps against Vasano and create an entertaining duel, if not a very short and bloody one. She preferred the latter, but for this occasion, she was willing to give her opponent some leash and some false sense of hope. Wasting no more time, the Elder jumped through the hole her ignominious fall had left in the ceiling and the chase was on.

As she burst out of the top-most doorway onto the shaggy rooftops, rusty corrugated metal groaning and flexing underfoot, a sudden sense of deja-vu struck her. She remembered their last encounter in Chute Town and the similar merry chase they shared. It lasted only a moment as she somersaulted across a gap between buildings and landed into a roll and slide. Lucine was in front of her, several buildings down the block, disappearing into an opening on the top floor. A shaky bridge spanned from Vasano’s building onto another set of shacks across the way where Morgan could, from her vantage, see droids patrolling in the windows on the lower floors. Lucine was on her way towards it. Noticing a hidden turret in the street below, several dozen yards from the bridge, a plan began to take shape to slow her opponent down and finally catch up.

Morgan felt her body tighten with unbound strength and speed, the Force fueling her every movement. She crossed two buildings — balconies, rooftops, obstacles, and all — with the alacrity of a Raxshir and leaped into the air towards the path dividing the shanty blocks, straight into the firing arc of the turret. Her boot thrusters engaged, not only to slow her fall but to draw attention as the loud jets roared to life. She spun in the air keeping the turret to her right, the bridge to her left, a perfect position for her needs.

The automated heavy turret, hidden behind dubiously constructed barricades spun to life and aimed at her, followed closely by a second one she hadn’t noticed on the opposite side of the path. In a blink the turrets’ targeting systems engaged her, searing plasma letting loose. She had planned for one, but two would make little difference. Her saber was up again deflecting one bolt wide, its heavy strike searing a large hole into the metal wall of the opposite building. It nearly unbalanced her but she kept her poise. The second bolt came moments later this time precisely returned to its source, cracking the turret's casing and melting its innards. The third, fourth, and fifth bolts found their real target as they bounced accurately off of the Quantum blade and into the makeshift bridge Lucine was crossing.

Shattered by heavy strikes of plasma, the bridge’s flimsy supports gave way while the Arconan was still on it. The sudden plunge churned Lucine’s stomach as her hands grabbed for any exposed handhold on the slap-chop metal, finding purchase only on sharp edges that cut into her fingers. Underneath her the bridge dropped like a pendulum into the building she was so close to reaching, crashing her through a window onto the second floor, right into the waiting arms of several converging droids. Morgan heard a loud bang from the building as she touched down and her thrusters fizzled out. She deflected one final bolt from the turret back to its source. The machine fizzled and popped as its electronics cooked off.

Six minutes and sixteen seconds left. Where to now, flame-hair? Morgan thought as she glanced at her chrono and dashed into the building after Lucine.

The stairway up was battered and deformed, shaking even under her weight as she ran up four steps at a time. Blaster shots and the snap-hiss of a saber blade echoed down through the building. Morgan knew she only had moments to catch up.

She reached the room Vasano was in to find two smoking droids, their severed heads blinking on the floor while their bodies twitched nearby. Lucine gritted her teeth as a Bryar pistol jumped into Morgan’s hand. Three shots came out in moments just as Lucine dashed through the door. Two bolts burned new holes into the wall and door frame. The third, aimed at the young woman’s torso, slammed into the waiting plasma shield Lucine had expertly triggered to cover herself. Morgan clicked her tongue in frustration as another camera drone floated in front of her, displaying her reactions for all to see. She pulled the drone towards her with invisible tendrils and smashed it into the wall. A wave of discontented shouts echoed out from the spectators. With a dissatisfied grunt, Morgan followed her quarry further in. 00:05:56

Lucine tore through the doorway to find herself in an empty room. There were no doors, no windows, no way to escape. Behind her, she heard the sound of something shattering against the wall. She did not want to be the next to face Morgan’s wrath.

She thumbed the ignition switch on her lightsaber, and the weapon flared to life, casting emerald light on the bare metal walls. Lucine slammed the plasma blade into the floor and spun, cutting a rough circle into the durasteel. The metal gave way and she dropped to the level below even as she heard Morgan’s heavy footsteps crossing the room above her.

The redhead took off in a run through a nearby doorway. She found herself in a long, narrow hallway that terminated in a second door. Bright sunlight filtered in from beneath the door. Perfect. She would have a better chance of escape outside of the faux building. Her boots made a rapid staccato as she crossed the hallway and threw open the door to reveal a set of rickety stairs leading from the second floor down to the ground level.

The door on the opposite end of the hallway flew open. Lucine whirled, her lightsaber held in a defensive position just in time to see Morgan appear with her blaster in hand. Three blaster bolts arced toward her and she deflected them. Two seared into the wall while the third was angled back in the direction from which it came. Morgan ducked behind cover, narrowly avoiding the searing bolt.

Lucine capitalized on the precious seconds her ploy had bought her. She drew upon the dark side of the Force, allowing its icy energy to lend strength to her legs. She darted through the door, intending to leap down the stairs.

But a heartbeat before she could make the jump, she felt her connection to the Force suddenly vanish. With it went her augmented strength. Instead of a distance-eating leap that would have allowed her to clear the stairs, she only managed a short jump. She landed awkwardly on the third step down. Gravity quickly asserted itself as she lost her balance and tumbled the rest of the way to land in a graceless heap at the bottom. Her lightsaber, having deactivated sometime during the fall, clattered to a rest several feet away.

The dreadful energy that had severed her power quickly vanished, replaced by an oppressive sense of terror. A moment later, Morgan dropped to the ground next to her. The former pirate queen lashed out with her foot, even as Lucine tried to roll out of the way. But she was too slow. Though her movement saved her from much of the force of the kick, she felt the crunch of cartilage as a vicious blow broke her nose.

Stars exploded in front of her eyes but instinct kept her moving. She tried to get to her feet, but Morgan was on her, aiming a kick to her ribs. Though she felt pain blossom along her side, her armorweave chestplate absorbed much of the force behind the kick. Her ribs were bruised, but not broken.

Lucine glanced up at Morgan out of the corner of her eye. The woman’s face was a mask of cold fury, her left eye burning with rage. Clearly, Lucine would find as much mercy in her as she would in the hard stone ground at the end of a long fall.

“Get up,” the former pirate queen said, ignoring the camera drones that had buzzed down to give the crowd a better view of the fight.

But Lucine remained on the ground, closing her eyes tightly as she drew upon the Force. Morgan narrowed her eyes when the other woman did not move. She kicked her again, aiming for the redhead’s ribs once more. This time she was rewarded with the sound of snapping ribs. “I said get up!”

Lucine groaned and glanced up at the dark-haired woman. “I do not think I will,” she groaned, focusing on weaving her power into a minor illusion. Her body spasmed in a cough that was not entirely an act. She spat a mouthful of blood onto the sand. “So you are… declining… my offer?”

Morgan’s mismatched eyes narrowed. “You have nothing to offer me.”

She lashed out with her foot again, this time aiming for her opponent’s left kidney. “I followed every lead.” This time, a kick to Lucine’s knee. She was rewarded with the crunch of bone. “The Clawdite was a stooge. He didn’t know anything.” Another kick to the ribs, more crunching of crushed ribs. “The Rodian who hired him was paid through dead drops. She had no idea who she was working for.” This time, she kicked Lucine’s left shoulder, crushing the joint beneath her boot. “The Cerean security guard. The Twi’lek. All dead-ends!”

Morgan paused, breathing heavily as she stared at the redhead huddled at her feet. “Not a single one of them could tell me who gave the order to kill my children!” For the first time, there was another emotion in her voice. The rage was still there, but it was tinged with grief. The heartbreak of a mother who had lost everything.

Lucine could not bring herself to reply. Though her armor protected her from most of the woman’s rage, she still felt every blow and her body was quickly becoming a solid mass of pain. It was all she could do to maintain her hold on the Force, to produce minor illusions that sounded to Morgan’s ears like the sound of breaking bones and to look like blood. Fortunately for her, Morgan seemed entirely focused on venting her rage and did not stop to examine the blood on the sand too closely.

Morgan opened her mouth to say something more, but her words were interrupted by a beep. She paused and glanced at her chronometer, before smiling mirthlessly. All trace of grief was gone, replaced by that consuming rage.

“Two minute warning,” she said. She punctuated her words with a sharp kick to Lucine’s stomach, knocking her breath from her. She then hauled the redhead up to slam her against the railing of the stairs. Her humorless smile never left her face as she drew back her arm to deliver a devastating haymaker.

Lucine struggled to draw in breath. “The bomb…” she wheezed. “It was… a small bomb…”

Morgan paused, her eyes narrowing. “What about it?”

The redhead drew in a shuddering breath. She spoke quickly, even as she tried to drag air into her protesting lungs. “There are… only four corporations that make small bombs with that much payload… and I specialize in corporate espionage… I can find out where it came from… who ordered it… if you let me live….”

The former pirate queen snarled under her breath. “And it will be another dead end.”

“Can you be sure?”

Morgan’s fist hovered, trembling. Rage still burned in her eye, but Lucine could see indecision warring within her.

Over her shoulder, Lucine saw movement, and it was all she could do not to smile.

Morgan’s indecision vanished a moment later. Her gaze hardened, her mouth setting into a thin line as that icy, all-consuming fury once more took hold. “You are about to lose your bet.”

A sudden mechanical scream split the air, causing Morgan to look over her shoulder. Her eyes widened at the sight of an ID9 Seeker droid racing toward them on spindly legs, juking wildly from side to side to avoid being hit by blaster fire from the eight battle droids that pursued it. The little droid was making a beeline directly toward the two Force users.

A moment later, an explosion rent the air as one of the droids stepped on a hidden mine. The resulting explosion sent shrapnel tearing through it and the two droids nearest to it, but the remaining five continued their pursuit.

The distraction was exactly what Lucine needed. She closed her eyes tightly as she threw the blinding dust into Morgan’s face, catching her just as she was turning back to finish the job. It drew a snarl of surprise from the woman as she drew back slightly.

Lucine drew upon the Force, slamming the energy into her aching muscles as she willed herself to move as quickly as possible. She snatched the set of stun cuffs that were hanging from her belt and looped one around Morgan’s wrist, dragging her forward to close the other cuff around the railing. Almost as an afterthought, she reached out and grabbed Morgan’s lightsaber off of her belt.

But the move came at a cost, as Morgan lashed out with her free hand in a balled fist, slamming it into the side of Lucine’s head. Her vision swam from the force of the blow, accompanied by a blinding headache. The lightsaber fell from nerveless fingers as she stumbled backward.

A moment later, a plasma bolt sailed past, missing her shoulder by inches.

Through blurry eyes, she could see that Morgan was wiping away the sand that had blinded her, even as the droids drew nearer. It was time to go. Lucine stumbled down a nearby alleyway, glancing at the clock on the holoprojector above. One minute and fifteen seconds left.

Morgan heaved against the restraint even as her rage blinded her to the futility of the action. Eyes blurry with tiny particulates, head concussed by the explosion which rattled her very bones only moments ago, and her focus on the damnable cuffs, she had little chance of noticing the blaster aimed at her head. Only the Force was there to warn her as she spun to the other side of the stairway, awkwardly bending her arm around the railing to avoid the deadly shot, but just as it had warned her about the imminent danger, the Force had calmed her enough to plan and strategize.

She pulled on the cloaked shadowsheath hidden on the back of her belt and ignited the hidden Lightdagger within. The blue blade came to life as Morgan jumped into a cartwheel around her secured wrist — over another incoming blaster shot — cut the connector on the stuncuffs, and in a single elegant move dropped onto her feet facing the combat droids. The lightdagger, though short, still worked perfectly well at deflecting incoming bolts, and her plasma shield materialized to block whatever the dagger could not catch.

She rushed the droids in a frenzy, melting the leading clanker's head with a solid slash as it bounced a plasma bolt off of the energy barrier. Two more blasts hit her shield and she saw it wavering as another droid fell, bisected at the waist. The third let out a triple burst, depleting the shield’s energy cell but giving Morgan the opening she needed. The droid’s arms fell onto the floor still holding the trigger as the blaster sprayed wildly across the staircase behind Morgan’s back. The fourth droid’s blaster melted as the lightdagger’s blade sliced through it. Morgan grabbed it by the neck to use it as a shield against the fifth who, unphased, delivered bolt after bolt into its shaking, fizzling compatriot. The lightdagger fell to the floor as Morgan’s Quantum saber clattered along the floor and landed into her open palm. The black blade evaporated her victim’s chest before beheading, delimbing, and forking the last droid on the spot.

With a twirl, the blade disengaged as Morgan picked up her dagger and replaced it into its sheath once more. She passed a finger across the bloody stain her assault on Lucine had left on the floor and smiled, sincerely for once, at the solidly maintained illusion. The redhead was clever and resourceful. She reminded Morgan of herself years ago, a dead and buried self she had barely remembered now. That girl might be worth some respect. She lasted longer than…

The chronometer beeped down to the last thirty seconds as Morgan’s eyes widened and she rushed after the elusive Arconan. Down the alleyway, Lucine’s footprints were visible in the soft sand, even to someone unaccustomed to such primitive tracking methods. Still, Morgan relied on her feelings and her senses more than anything and, even though she was beginning to feel the toll of so much power coursing through her body — and cursed herself for letting Lucine push her over the edge of her rage-filled tantrum — she felt the woman far and away down the path between two stacks of ersatz buildings.

It took her moments to slide onto the path as Lucine dashed into another alleyway several buildings away. Priming her detonator to a five-second trigger, Morgan ran as hard as her legs would carry her, crossing the distance in less than fifteen seconds. The chrono beeped. Ten seconds left.

Limbs aching with overbearing power, she centered herself with the alley entrance — and Lucine’s turned back — and willed the thermal detonator down the alleyway in a precise and straight line.

Five.

Lucine turned her head for but a brief moment, instinct and training alerting her to imminent danger.

Four

Eyes wide at seeing the enemy behind her and the detonator now spinning quickly in her direction, she pushed herself to move faster.

Three

She rushed towards an open door in the middle of the path as the detonator’s trajectory degraded and it tumbled on the floor behind her, skipping back into the air with a dull thunk. The beeping of its internal clock became ever louder.

Two

Slamming against the door frame, unable to slow herself enough for a clean entry, she heard her shoulder dislocate before the pain kicked in, doused by an overwhelming pump of adrenaline. She was panicking.

One

Lucine dove into cover inside the building as the detonator rolled to a stop mere feet from the doorway.

BOOM!

The detonation rattled the rickety blocks on either side of the alleyway, splintered alloy, duracrete, and dust thrown in all directions. Walls collapsed and debris rained on the arena. The gust of overpressure picked up particulates from the floor and forced Morgan to cover her irritated eyes. She looked at the chrono as it counted down to zero and beeped several times before shutting down. She huffed, brushing dust from her lips and nose as she walked ahead, across the settling detritus.

The lingering fog of particles would have made her job of finding Lucine — or whatever remained of her — hard but for her abilities. She could sense the woman, alive but unmoving, under the rubble nearby.

Walking over, she willed the rubble to move, scattering it across the arena, and revealing the crushed Arconan. Seemingly unconscious, concussed, and wounded, but alive nonetheless. Morgan scoffed before a smile crept across her face. There was another illusion there, concealing what little consciousness the Arconan clung to. Subtle, barely perceptible, but not to someone like the former Captain.

She kneeled close to the unmoving redhead and whispered, “Brave, resourceful, maybe too smart for your own good, I think.” She heard the roar of the crowd beyond the settling dust and seized the moment. “You win your bet, I’ll admit to that, but in return for your life you find me who I need to kill.” She rose again to her feet and glanced at the displays high above.

“Carve her up!” the crowd roared again, catching up to what was happening only as the cloud dissipated. “Take her head!” Morgan could feel the raw emotion as she looked over to the stands where some of the Dark Council sat, staring at the spectacle. Just like her, they fed off of the cruelty and barbarity of the crowd. “Slice her to bits!” The bloodlust was palpable and would be somewhat invigorating had Morgan any intention to satisfy it.

As the camera drone lingered mere feet from her head, showing her revolted expression on the hovering screens, Morgan turned her gaze to face it. The Quantum blade roared to life and sliced the drone in two. It clattered to the floor, joining the rest of the rubble in the blood-stained arena.

Shocked gasps and disbelief of a crowd denied their amusement followed her on her way out of the arena. She had won, the rest of them could go to hell.