Chapter 1| Hot Shot

"Most people believe that laws are what separate us from animals. For the most part, they aren't wrong. However, the most important thing that separates us from animals, is history." Mr. Johnson expresses, as he tries to keep his students' attention. Aidan relaxes back in his seat, bored out of his mind. History was never his strongest subject; he always found it difficult to pay attention. As he stares at a PowerPoint of the Revolutionary War, he's suddenly struck by a paper ball in the back of his head.

Aidan picks up the ball and looks around, only to discover his friend Ian chuckling in the corner. Ian is a thin, baby-faced kid. If you didn't know he was in high school, you could never tell by looking at him. Completely opposite to Ian, Aidan has short and lighter black hair, along with an exceptionally mature face. Aidan checks to see if Mr. Johnson is paying attention before tossing the ball back at Ian, but his aim was too high and he barely grazes Ian's brown hair. Ian subtly picks the ball of paper up and goes to throw it back. Halfway through the air, however, it is abruptly caught by Mr. Johnson.

𝘏𝘰𝘸'𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵?! Aidan and Ian look at Mr. Johnson in shock.

"Aidan. Ian." Mr. Johnson scolds. "Is tossing a paper ball really more important than learning about George Washington?"

"I wouldn't say more important, but it's certainly more entertaining," Aidan replies sarcastically. The class chuckles in response.

"Both of you—" Mr. Johnson is cut off by the school bell ringing. Aidan and Ian quickly slip off with the rest of the class into the hallway.

"That was a close one," Aidan remarks.

"I'll say." Ian and Aidan continue walking in the hallway until something suddenly catches Aidan's attention. It's a display case with several school photos and trophies, an otherwise normal sight in many schools, except when you take into consideration the dazzling sword in the center. An old roman gladius, with a pristine blade that looks brand new, has its handle's metal components shine so brilliantly that Aiden can't take his eyes off of it. He was drawn to it, completely mesmerized. "That's weird, wonder who put that in there?"

"Mr. Johnson did." A voice comes from behind, startling them. Ian jumps and the surprise snaps Aidan out of his trance. He turns around to see a new student standing next to another friend of his, Chloe. She begins to laugh at Ian's panic, her emerald eyes showing a particular shine, which draws Aidan's interest away from the sword.

"Christ, give someone a heart attack why don't you?!" Ian exclaims.

"Sorry, I saw you guys standing here and figured I'd pop by." Chloe looks at the new student and then back to Aidan and Ian. "I'm sorry, where are my manners? Guys, this is Joan, an exchange student from France. She's gonna be staying with me for a while."

"It's nice to meet you. Chloe has told me much about you." Joan greets, her French accent making it a bit difficult to understand. With her unusually short stature, even for a high schooler, she looks up at Aiden and Ian with a smile.

"Nice to meet you too, Joan," Aidan replies.

"Welcome to the US of A," Ian says jokingly. Joan merely looks at him confused.

"He's welcoming you to America. Don't pay attention to Ian, he's a bit of a goof." Joan nods in understanding. Aidan turns back to the sword, trying to figure out why he was so captivated by it. "Anyway, Mr. Johnson put it in there like last week. Something about the school's heritage or something." Chloe explains. "I'm surprised you didn't notice it sooner."

"Me too." Aidan whispers.

"That dude irks me sometimes. There's just something off about him." Ian comments.

The four students begin to walk out of school.

"So, you guys have any plans for tonight?" Chloe asks.

"Nope, probably just gonna head home," Aidan replies.

"Actually, I was gonna see if you wanted to pop over for dinner, Aidan." Ian invites. "My folks have been asking about you. I'm sure they'd like to see you."

"Alright, sounds good." Aidan turns to Chloe and Joan. "And what about you?"

"Lots of studying," Joan replies, much to Chloe's embarrassment.

"Yeah. Just a boring night of studying." To Aidan, the answer was somewhat suspicious. He couldn't explain it to himself, but something about the answer didn't seem right. However, he merely shrugged it off.

"Sounds like a dull night." A car horn is heard in the distance, a woman in a mini-van begins waving towards Chloe and Joan.

"That's my mom," Chloe explains. "We gotta go, Joan." She urges as she begins to pull Joan towards the mini-van.

"It was nice to meet you both!" Joan calls out as she gets in the van behind Chloe. As the boys wave the girls off, Ian glances at Joan as he comments to his friend, "She's kinda hot."

"I guess," Aidan replies noncommittally, as he catches a final glimpse of Chloe's swaying ponytail before walking towards Ian's car. Aidan always enjoys going to Ian's house, whose parents keep their home open to him. Their warm hospitality had been especially helpful after his mother became ill, and even more so after she passed away. He actually stayed with them for a while when she died, but once her affairs were in order, he moved back to his house. Of course, he still makes sure to visit from time to time. Ian opens the door to the house and does the usual call out to see if anyone is home.

"Mom? Dad?" No answer. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬. The boys toss their backpacks towards the corner of the den and proceed to sink into the couch to play video games. They get off to an awful start due to Ian getting distracted by calls and texts that he constantly ignores.

"Who keeps calling you?" Aidan asks, clearly annoyed after Ian got them killed for the seemingly hundredth time in Zombies because he ignored another phone call.

"My parents are making me go see this tutor," Ian replies, also frustrated. "Guess they don't get when they're being blown off."

"Apparently so." Aidan restarts the game. The calls cease, allowing them to finally play uninterrupted. Ian's parents come home and begin cooking dinner while the boys play until they reach Level 49, the dreaded level. Something Aidan and Ian have always wished to accomplish is to make it to Level 50, but they could never get past level 49. They would always come so close until the Zombie Overlord would show up and crush their lives as well as their spirits.

"Ready?" asks Aidan, wiping the sweat from his hands.

"Oh hell yeah, today's the day we hit 50!" The two keep to their typical strategy. Since the map is essentially a deserted town, they choose the smallest house to take shelter in. Hiding in the corner, they gun down every zombie that is unfortunate enough to near them. Usually, once the zombie Overlord appears, they scatter in order to create some distance before kiting him until they can finish him off.

"New plan," Aidan suggests. "One of us kinda mows around him while another one stays in the corner and blasts him."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll stay in the corner if you want. You mow."

"Deal." They execute their plan. Aidan circles around the Overlord, keeping its focus on him. Meanwhile, Ian continuously damages it with his shotgun. Their plan is going perfectly. They look at the screen with excitement, along with intense focus. But just as the Overlord's health reaches a critical level, another one appears, replacing their anticipation with dismay.

"Are you kidding me!?" Ian shouts.

"Keep it down in there boys, it's just a game." Ian's father yells into the Living Room, only irritating him further as watches the new Overlord rip his character to shreds. Aidan doesn't fare any better as he bitterly drops his controller when the nearly dead Overlord crushes his head.

"So… frickin… close." Aidan slumps in his seat. Defeated.

"Who would have thought that there were two? That's not even right." Ian complains as he frustratedly throws his controller onto the couch. Ian's mother comes into the room, a smile on her face.

"Dinner time boys." They shake their heads. After turning off the console, they follow Ian's Mom into the kitchen. Aidan loves home cooked meals. He misses having them with his mother as the two talked about their day. Reminiscing on this, he sits down next to his friend. Ian's Mom begins serving dinner, starting with her husband across the table. It's a particular favorite of Aidan's, lasagna.

"So how was school today?" Ian's mother asks, looking at the boys.

"Pretty good." Ian shrugs.

"Same old. Same old." Aidan chimes in. Ian's mother turns to her husband.

"And how about your day, mister?" Ian's father finally tears his attention away from his food to his wife. Having almost been completely immersed in eating, his face is stuffed like a hamster with bulging cheeks. He's a construction Forman that runs his own business. With long hour days and lots of manual labor, even for the Forman, he comes home with a big appetite.

"It was pretty good. New hires started today, so I got a bit of a reprieve and got some actual paperwork done. How about yourself, dear?" He manages to get out after swallowing down the inestimable serving size stored in his mouth. His wife is a chef at a fairly high end restaurant, which makes her the perfect remedy to his enormous appetite. She used to waitress there when he had just started his business. The two gradually grew close to each other as he would eat the lunch served by her everyday. It's not the most romantic way to meet a significant other, yet Aidan is still a bit jealous of his friend for knowing this story about his parents. He never even met his father, let alone learn how his parents met.

"A bit stressful to be honest. Javier quit during the middle of the lunch rush."

"Again?" Ian asks, unamused.

"Yes. Again."

"How many times is that now Mrs. M?" Aidan asks.

"Well, this would make this, his… fourth time, I believe."

"Hey, I'll learn to cook if you wanna hire me," Aidan offers. It's been hard for him to find work with his lack of prior experience. He doesn't really need the money, but it'd be nice to have a bit more of it and to stay busy at the same time.

"Sorry sweetie, but the owner would kill me if he knew I hired a 16-year-old to be behind the grill."

"Worth a shot." Aidan continues with his dinner, as Ian's mother turns her attention to Ian.

"But… we do have an opening for a dishwasher." Ian ignores his mother's obvious implication by nonchalantly eating his food. Noticing this, his father decides to get his attention.

"Ian." Ian looks up at his father. "Your mother was talking to you."

"I'm sorry, what's that mom?" Ian asks, his attention now totally on his mother, although unwillingly.

"I was saying, they have an opening as a dishwasher at the restaurant. I think you should apply."

"A dishwasher huh?" Ian asks, uninterested.

"It'll be good for you to get a job. You're 17 years old. It's about time for you to start working." Ian's father chimes in. To the side, Aidan silently eats his dinner, feeling rather awkward. He hates it when they do this. They always try to get Ian to do something he isn't keen on doing. This leads to a small argument that Ian abandons by taking Aidan home. To Aidan's surprise, however, that isn't the case this time.

"You're right. I'll apply." Ian says, going back to his dinner. Ian's parents sit there, dumbfounded that they won so easily.

"O…ok then. Good." Ian's mother stutters.

After they finish eating, Aidan thanks them for dinner and Ian takes him home.

"Can I ask you something?" Ian asks, stopping at a stop light.

"Sure."

"Something like… kinda personal." Aidan looks at his friend, a bit concerned.

"Of course." Aidan notices that Ian is nervously tapping his foot.

"Do you… like, do you like your living situation?" Ian finally asks. Aidan is floored by the question. It's an easy living situation. His older brother gives him money for the bills, food, and some money just to throw around. All Aidan has to do is make sure that the bills are paid on time and that he takes care of himself.

"I mean… I guess. Not much to really complain about." Aidan replies. "Why do you ask?"

Ian begins to noticeably grow nervous again.

"I was just talking to my parents ya know. And they're worried about Adonis not being around and…"

"And?"

"And they were talking about inviting you to… come stay with us." Aidan is completely flabbergasted.

"Woah."

"Yeah, I mean, we've been friends since the crib. It would only make sense. Our moms were friends after all, and Adonis is always away on business." Aidan gives it some thought. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯. With his mother gone and his brother Adonis barely around, he often finds himself lonely when at home. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘮𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦?

"Can I think about it?" Aidan asks.

"Of course. Just… let me know. We're here for you man." Ian pulls up to Aidan's house.

"Thanks for the ride." Aidan gets out of the car, taking his bag with him. He gives Ian a quick fist bump.

"See ya tomorrow."

"See ya."

Aidan watches as Ian drives away before going inside. The house is surprisingly clean for its only occupant being a mere 16 year old child. He tosses his backpack onto the counter, then takes out a metal kettle from one of the kitchen cupboards. He attempts to light it on the stove, but to no avail. No spark, only gas. "Not again with this crap!" Aidan roars in frustration, slamming his hand down against the counter. To his surprise, the pilot roars on. He quickly turns down the gas and puts the kettle over the fire. He walks into his Living Room and turns the TV on. Sometimes it lessens the loneliness that he feels at his house. 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘐𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘈𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯. 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. Aidan blankly stares at the TV. Fortunately, the dilemma plaguing him is interrupted by his cell going off. Noticing the number, he understands that his night is about to get much more interesting.

"Hello," Aidan answers the call, already expecting what he's about to hear. It's a local fight promoter that he's all too familiar with. He calls Aidan from time to time for boxing matches. Fighting is a bit of a habit that he picked up from his brother. The promoter looks past his age in exchange for a large cut of his dues. Aidan doesn't mind, though. It's the competition that really gives him a thrill.

"Hey hey, Aidan." The promoter loudly greets into the phone. "Listen, buddy, I got a last minute cancellation in the Heavyweight class--"

"Heavyweight? But I fight Light Heavyweight." Aidan cuts him off. "And I barely fit into that."

"Yeah, yeah I know." The Promoter replies. "But you'd be doing me a favor and the payday is pretty good. Huh? What do you say? Can you get here in 30 minutes?" Aidan looks at the clock, 7:30, he can make it.

"Yeah, why not," Aidan replies. "I'll be there."

"Thanks, buddy. See ya there!" The Promoter hangs up. Aidan turns off the kettle and quickly runs into his bedroom to grab a beat up sports bag. He does the normal check of ensuring that the lights and stove are off before running out the door.

Aidan walks through the back entrance of the gym. The musty air quickly inhabits his nostrils. He tosses his bag on a bench that he could swear was about to fall apart and begins to get changed into his gear. As he begins to tape himself up, the Promoter walks in.

"Hey hey hey. You made it!" He almost cheers. 𝘏𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘶𝘱, 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘮𝘦.

"I told you I was," Aidan replied. "So who is this guy?"

"New guy from a different gym. Alejandro Martinez, undefeated at his old spot. Good luck kid." The Promoter pats Aidan on the back and quickly leaves.

"Dick," Aidan whispers to himself. Gloved up, Aidan begins to shadow box, trying to devise an attack plan. 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥. 𝘚𝘰 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨. 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘣𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘴𝘩 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩. 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘫𝘢𝘣 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘯, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘺.

A guy wearing a headset pops into the locker room.

"You're up kid."

Aidan bats his gloves together and proceeds to the arena. The audience in the stands is fairly normal, having lots of empty gaps. It's a rather small gym, after all. As he arrives at the arena, he gets a good look at Alejandro. He's a tall Hispanic man covered in tattoos. His build is lean, but his well defined muscles are still apparent. Aidan notices him stare at him with discontent and whisper something to the Promoter. The Promoter shakes his head and responds to him, but he's out of earshot. Aidan gets into the ring and in his corner.

"Alright, Gentlemen." The Promoter begins. "I want a good, clean fight. Got it?" The two fighters nod their heads. "Good. Then by the sound of the bell, you may begin." The Promoter exits the stage and the bell rings. Aidan holds out his hand to touch gloves, but Alejandro gets right to it and hooks him in the face. He does his best to defend, but Alejandro's heavy punches feel as though hammers are raining down on him. 𝘈𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨. He dodges a punch and begins to jab at Alejandro, landing a few hits. Unfortunately, this is countered by a hard shot to his gut.

Aidan throws a few desperate punches before the bell rings. Alejandro smugly goes to his corner with a sneer on his face. Aidan plops down in his. The more he stares at Alejandro, the angrier he gets. 𝘉𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵, 𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘱 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵. Aidan feels a fire burn inside him. He stands up. Subconsciously, he understands that he's readier than before. He's focused. He knows he can win. The bell rings. 𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦. Once this thought passes, everything else is removed from his head. The rage takes over. Not even fifteen seconds pass before Alejandro flees out of the ring. The audience is freaking out. Too caught up in glaring at Alejandro as he wails in pain outside the arena, Aidan isn't even aware that his own gloves had caught on fire during the match. Only when the referee begins tearing off the back of his gloves, where there's oddly no fire due to it being concentrated on his knuckles, does he finally look down and see. He quickly helps the official tear off the last glove and runs to the back. Aidan throws the sink on and holds his hands underneath. To his surprise, he doesn't hurt. His wraps are burnt to the point that they're unrecognizable, yet his hands appear unaffected. Panicked, he grabs his bag and leaves the gym in a hurry. He begins walking through an alley when he hears a man's voice.

"Hey, kid!" The voice calls to him. Aidan ignores it, wanting to get home and sort through his thoughts as soon as possible. "Wait, hold up." Aidan tries to walk faster but the man manages to get in front of him. He looks to be in his 40's, short, slicked-back brown hair with a full goatee.

"Hey, I just wanted to see if you were alright. That was some fight, especially the whole… fire thing." He calmly explains. Aidan doesn't know what to say. He's a bit touched that this stranger came to check on him, but he's really not in the right state of mind to talk.

"I'm fine, now if you excuse me—"

"How'd you do that? The fire thing?" He asks. "It was a pretty cool trick--"

"Look, I appreciate the concern but I really need to leave," Aidan replies, pushing past the man as he begins to walk faster down the alley.

"Take care, Aidan." Aidan turns back to see the man still standing there. He's too flustered to notice that the stranger seems to have on a look as if he just confirmed something. He walks faster until he finally exits the alley, outside of the stranger's line of vision.

𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘕𝘰 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵…𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘈𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘯. 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯.