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Description
     Vinrey stood at the supply broker's booth.
     He was leaning against a wall, looking threatening, which was something he pulled off very well. He wasn't feeling his happiest since his little run-in with the sun, and wanted everyone in the vicinity to know it. Passers-by gave him a wide berth.
     The supply broker himself was in the back, carting up the supplies Vinrey ordered. The broker was a small, fat, stink of a man, and Vinrey wanted to stab him, but that would put a quick end on any supplies-negotiation. He restrained himself.
     The man came out with a large cart of supplies, which he brought around the counter. He called out, "'Ey, you, with the cape. Stuff's 'ere."
     Vinrey gave him the most vicious glare he could muster, but apparently, the supply shop worker wasn't fazed. He walked over to the counter, swung the cart around, and left. Prepaid accounts had at least one perk- not having to socialize with supply workers.
     He exited the shop with the cart, turned right, and headed for the loading dock at which that the Sanguine was stopped. Once he pulled up to the dock, he called up to the hand that happened to be operating the supply, "Alright, load it up."
     A cable-crane claw descended, and grabbed the tie handles. It hoisted the pack of boxes into the hatch, and reset. The crewhand said, "Alright, Conductor, am I dismissed?"
     Vinrey looked up at him. "Yeah. Get outta here."
     "Thanks, Conductor." The mate got out of the crane's operation booth, looking forward to his day on the town.
     Vinrey wished he wasn't in such a rotten mood. Getting burned hurts for weeks, and that on top of having to do all this dockwork, he wasn't having the best day.
     He decided to take a five-minute break and observe the cityscape.
     This particular burg wasn't the richest or the largest city in the land, but that was precisely the reason why the Sanguine stopped there so often. The streets were grimy, the buildings needed work, and the smog was plentiful. Just the kind of place that the law would avoid.
     The place was full of bars, mercenary contractorships, and corporation release kiosks. It was a seedy den where the lawless and uncivilized congregated. His crew loved it here.
     Vinrey always had considered himself to be of a slightly higher class than the locals here. One indicator of this was the fact that he could read.
     He and his crew had nothing to do for the next three days. They would just meander about town, spending the cash that they would soon collect. However, Vinrey still hadn't collected his cut from that corporation, so for the now, they would be window shopping.
     He walked away from the Sanguine, and headed for the his objective, which was a corporate release. There were many in this town, it was a known hub for any illegitimate corporate activity.
     His particular client was a small body called Atrocom. According to research he conducted, they were just a tiny company that specialized in materials technology. They spent the majority of their time researching ways to make current parts more durable, lighter, and stronger. But apparently, they had a small vendetta against whatever rival corporation owned that scanning facility.
     Vinrey didn't normally think about the motives behind the syndicates' movements, but this case was unusual. Deranged monsters attacking a lone scanner dump that was searching for "anomalies"? It smelled fishy, to say the least. He wasn't sure if he believed the whole "monsters" bit, but Marcus wouldn't have any real reason to lie, would he?
     He stood outside the Atrocom building. It wasn't the actual headquarters of the organization itself, but a small outlet that handled any consumer needs. Like paying mercenaries.
     He pushed in on glass double doors and entered the small building. There was nothing but a tiny room with a touch-screen computer. The entire "building" was the size of a closet.
     He walked up to the screen. Several options were displayed, such as "Contact", "Contract", "Collect", and others. He pressed "Collect". The next scree was a simple text field asking for his contract number. He typed it in, and pressed "Enter".
     The screen began to display information on the contract he and his crew had just completed.

     Mission: Destroy facility in its entirety
     Success: Recorded
     Payment: 50,000 telos, one Anthracite Generator
     Payment Delivery: Initiated, destination is Dock 6,        Haveras Port. ETA- 24 hours

     That seemed to be in good order. Vinrey pressed "Continue". The screen spat out, "Thank you for choosing Atrocom" and reverted to the start screen.
     So the delivery would come in a day. The brand new AG would fetch at least 25,000 telos on the current market, and they could easily sell it in Haveras.
     75,000 telos divided by thirty-three crew members (Marcus included, he helped with the operation) equaled slightly more than 2,250 per person. That was a very good amount of what Vinrey called "vacation money", or money that wasn't spent on necessities like food and clothing.
     He walked out of the tiny building and started down the street. The streets were an interesting place in Haveras. Nearly anything could befall a person while walking down them. Someone might randomly pick a fight with another person, without the victim knowing it. A wily street vendor might try to strike up what seems as a very good bargain, but in fact is cheating the buyer out of a significant amount of money. The streets of Haveras were a gauntlet of typical lowlife attempts at lawbreaking.
     Today, Vinrey's crew would spend the day at bars, spending the last of their cash on various things, gambling, any of the wide things Haveras Port had to offer.
     Vinrey, on the other hand, had one specific thing to do, a thing he made sure to do every time he was in this town.
     Vinrey was the current defending champion of the Haveras Fight Pit.
     Pits were uncommon in the land , simply because of the small number of people unwilling to get hurt very badly. But in this town, people were considerably more brutal and vicious, thus, the Pit flourished. Vinrey had a history of fights in this town, because it was the only place that occasionally gave him a challenging fight. His crew knew all about it, and most of them knew their Conductor's fight times.
     Today Vinrey had a match to defend his title, and was now making his way to the Pit. He was looking forward to it.

     Vinrey stood in the preparation room, in front of the gate to the arena fight ground. In a few minutes, the gate would open, and he would meet his opponent in combat.
     Vinrey partly relished fighting in an arena because all fights were held at nighttime. He could remove his weighty cloak, and move about more freely.
     Underneath the cloak, Vinrey wore a short sleeved, black cotton garment, slightly longer than waist length. He also wore trim, black trousers. He didn't take off his black conductor's hat, his hair would get in his eyes. The black clothing stood out strangely against his paper-white skin.
     His trusty katana rested at his left hip, he had no other weaponry. He relied on speed rather than obscene amounts of ordnance.
     There was an echoing clank as the chains started ratcheting to raise the gate. He could hear the announcer and the roar of the crowd expecting a good fight.
     The gate began to rise, and as soon as he could, Vinrey studied his enemy.
     Directly across from him, on the other side of the arena, was his opponent. It was a tall man of apparently middle age, with greyish skin and short brown hair. He wore a crisp, navy blue business suit, which was unusual. His weapon of choice was a sort of mace, with a pole that was twice as long. Just by looking at it, Vinrey had a feeling that he would have a very difficult time just lifting that thing, let alone fighting with it.
     As soon as the gates were raised, each combatant stepped forward into the starting circles. Until the whistle blew, they were not permitted to leave the circle.
     Vinrey looked his unusually dressed opponent over, reading body language, trying to get an inkling of his enemy's strategy. The man in the suit was very calm, hardly moving, and kept his eyes locked on Vinrey. This gave the impression that his fighting style wouldn't be of a berserker fashion, but more measured and planned.
     The announcer said something indistinct, to which the crowd cheered and applauded. That probably meant the whistle would be coming any second.
     As he predicted, the whistle blew.
     Vinrey disappeared.
     The crowd was vastly entertained, this was a signature of Vinrey's. Vinrey was moving so fast that he couldn't be seen, dashing around the stadium. To the untrained eye, it was assumed that he simply vanished.
     The man in the suit didn't move, and was apparently unfazed by Vinrey's normally shocking first maneuver.
     Wasting no time, Vinrey jumped at his blinding speed down to the ground, leaving a visible puff of dust where his feet planted. From there he blasted off toward his enemy, drawing his sword and pulling it back for an incapacitating strike. He was still unseen.
     To Vinrey's astonishment, the moment Vinrey swung, the man in the suit brought his long mace up to block the shot. Vinrey didn't even see him move. There was a clang of steel on steel, and Vinrey jumped back, slowing down.
     Vinrey stood in the center of the arena, panting. He wouldn't be able to go to such a speed again, it was intended for a one-strike takedown. The man in the suit was very fast as well.
     Vinrey always had a backup plan.
     He rushed the man with the mace, holding his sword directly in front of him, making for a strike at the chest. It was a terribly obvious move, and easily countered. The second Vinrey struck, the man blocked the swipe with impeccable speed again, but when he brought his mace down, Vinrey was gone.
     Dirt exploded from the spot Vinrey had been standing. The strange man was very strong, as well as fast.
     Vinrey appeared to be invisible again, but in reality he was hiding above the arena inside the mesh of girders and screens that was the announcer's box. No one could see him, unless they were specifically paying attention to the announcer's perch.
     A good plan would be to fall on the man with his sword pointed downward, an aerial impalement maneuver. Only problem with that was that the crowd would surely give him away by cheering and gasping. Damn crowd.
     He figured it was better than nothing.
     Just as he let go of the girders, the man in the suit looked directly at him.
     There was nothing Vinrey could do. He couldn't change direction in midair.
     As expected, the man in the suit wound back with his mace, and let fly as soon as Vinrey was close.
     The mace slammed into his chest and flung him thirty feet away.

     Bactus was in the stands, with a few others of the crew, including Marcus.
     He said, "Oh no."
     Marcus looked up. "What?"
     "The Conductor's been hit."
     "Badly?"
     "Pretty badly. Look."
     Marcus looked out onto the field and saw Vinrey sprawled out in the middle of the arena. He was moving, but not very much.
     "Is he going to be alright?"
     "Don't worry, they don't allow killing in the Pit. But critical injury is allowed. Encouraged, really, it adds to the excitement."
     "So he won't die?"
     "Well. Maybe."

     Vinrey stood up, somehow. He was having trouble breathing, and he suspected that one of his ribs was cracked.
     The man in the suit didn't advance.
     Vinrey shook it off, and tried to ignore the stabs of pain from his ribcage.
     Then, without apparent reason, the blue-suited man fell to his right knee, and laid his weapon down. Vinrey looked at him and raised an eyebrow. He man answered by looking nonchalant and shrugging.
     Kneeling to your opponent and putting down your weapon was the motion of surrender in the Pit.
     The crowd gasped, then fell silent. The announcer said something, and the crowd started cheering and applauding.
     Vinrey, for reasons unknown, had just won the match.

     "Marcus, you'd better look at this." Bactus was staring down into the Pit. The cheering and applauding was nearly deafening.
     Marcus came over from a random food stand. His mouth was full of something. "Wha'?"
     "Look. That guy, he surrendered!"
     Marcus swallowed, with a bit of difficulty. "What?"
     "See? He's kneeling. That means he's giving in. Vinrey wins!"
     Marcus looked disbelieving. "That's odd... he was winning. He had absolutely no reason to quit..." He looked closer at Vinrey's opponent.
     Suddenly, it hit him. He knew who that man was.

     After the moderator had finalized the match's end, Vinrey was allowed to go back to the preparation room. But he didn't.
     "Hey!" he yelled at the man's back.
     The man turned around and gave him a blank look. He stopped walking.
     Vinrey rushed over to him. "Hey. What did you do that for? You had me!" He was clutching his side.
     The man looked at him in an almost bemused manner. Then he smiled. He said in a deep, rational voice, "Well. You're good. Very good, in fact. I saw that it was only a matter of time before you beat me. I knew a mace to the chest wouldn't stop you in the long run." His smile widened. "We'll be seeing each other again, I suspect."
     He hefted his mace over his shoulder and walked on, not turning back. Vinrey just stood there in the center of the emptying arena, bewildered.

     Vinrey was sitting at a bench, letting a Pit medic wrap his bare chest. The medical staff told him it was nothing but a cracked rib, as he had thought, and it would be a few weeks until it fused again. Until then, no more fighting.
     The spot where the mace hit him, on his right flank, was bruising brilliantly. Ripples of purple were already starting to form.
     After the medic assured him about his injuries for the umpteenth time, she left him alone in the room.
     His expected payment was significantly larger than usual this time.  After that single mace hit, the odds at the betting booth swung massively in the mysterious man's favor. It resulted in Vinrey getting almost triple his normal payment.
     In the dingy locker room, Vinrey's skin almost glowed against the olive green paint. He stood up gingerly, wincing, and walked over to where his clothes were hanging. He carefully pulled his shirt on, followed by his voluminous cloak. He felt warm, and back to his old self. Whenever he was in a bad mood, for some reason being at the Pit never failed to cheer him up.
     He walked out of the dim locker room and into the light.

     Outside, a few members of his crew were waiting to congratulate him. A few of them thumped him on the back, which hurt, but he put up with it.
     "Haw, good job, Conductor. I think."
     "Yeah, way to... win."
     "It was your first smart opponent!"
     Vinrey was slightly ruffled at the snide comments concerning the surrender, but it didn't bother him. He was looking forward to a lot of cash.
     Marcus, however, ran up to him.
     He said, panting, "Vinrey... That man, I know him."
     Vinrey's eyes widened. "From where?"
     "Remember that man I told you about? The one on top of the staircase at the scanner building, the one who disappeared inside the building?"
     Vinrey thought for a moment, then remembered. "That was him!?"
     "Yes! We've got to go after him!"
     He made a motion to grab Vinrey's arm, but Vinrey resisted. "Wait up, there. Why do we need to follow him?"
     "Because! He has answers. There are things I have to know!"
     Vinrey waited amidst the bustle of the Pit lobby. He figured payment could wait.
     "Alright. Let's go."

Description
     Vinrey stood at the supply broker's booth.
     He was leaning against a wall, looking threatening, which was something he pulled off very well. He wasn't feeling his happiest since his little run-in with the sun, and wanted everyone in the vicinity to know it. Passers-by gave him a wide berth.
     The supply broker himself was in the back, carting up the supplies Vinrey ordered. The broker was a small, fat, stink of a man, and Vinrey wanted to stab him, but that would put a quick end on any supplies-negotiation. He restrained himself.
     The man came out with a large cart of supplies, which he brought around the counter. He called out, "'Ey, you, with the cape. Stuff's 'ere."
     Vinrey gave him the most vicious glare he could muster, but apparently, the supply shop worker wasn't fazed. He walked over to the counter, swung the cart around, and left. Prepaid accounts had at least one perk- not having to socialize with supply workers.
     He exited the shop with the cart, turned right, and headed for the loading dock at which that the Sanguine was stopped. Once he pulled up to the dock, he called up to the hand that happened to be operating the supply, "Alright, load it up."
     A cable-crane claw descended, and grabbed the tie handles. It hoisted the pack of boxes into the hatch, and reset. The crewhand said, "Alright, Conductor, am I dismissed?"
     Vinrey looked up at him. "Yeah. Get outta here."
     "Thanks, Conductor." The mate got out of the crane's operation booth, looking forward to his day on the town.
     Vinrey wished he wasn't in such a rotten mood. Getting burned hurts for weeks, and that on top of having to do all this dockwork, he wasn't having the best day.
     He decided to take a five-minute break and observe the cityscape.
     This particular burg wasn't the richest or the largest city in the land, but that was precisely the reason why the Sanguine stopped there so often. The streets were grimy, the buildings needed work, and the smog was plentiful. Just the kind of place that the law would avoid.
     The place was full of bars, mercenary contractorships, and corporation release kiosks. It was a seedy den where the lawless and uncivilized congregated. His crew loved it here.
     Vinrey always had considered himself to be of a slightly higher class than the locals here. One indicator of this was the fact that he could read.
     He and his crew had nothing to do for the next three days. They would just meander about town, spending the cash that they would soon collect. However, Vinrey still hadn't collected his cut from that corporation, so for the now, they would be window shopping.
     He walked away from the Sanguine, and headed for the his objective, which was a corporate release. There were many in this town, it was a known hub for any illegitimate corporate activity.
     His particular client was a small body called Atrocom. According to research he conducted, they were just a tiny company that specialized in materials technology. They spent the majority of their time researching ways to make current parts more durable, lighter, and stronger. But apparently, they had a small vendetta against whatever rival corporation owned that scanning facility.
     Vinrey didn't normally think about the motives behind the syndicates' movements, but this case was unusual. Deranged monsters attacking a lone scanner dump that was searching for "anomalies"? It smelled fishy, to say the least. He wasn't sure if he believed the whole "monsters" bit, but Marcus wouldn't have any real reason to lie, would he?
     He stood outside the Atrocom building. It wasn't the actual headquarters of the organization itself, but a small outlet that handled any consumer needs. Like paying mercenaries.
     He pushed in on glass double doors and entered the small building. There was nothing but a tiny room with a touch-screen computer. The entire "building" was the size of a closet.
     He walked up to the screen. Several options were displayed, such as "Contact", "Contract", "Collect", and others. He pressed "Collect". The next scree was a simple text field asking for his contract number. He typed it in, and pressed "Enter".
     The screen began to display information on the contract he and his crew had just completed.

     Mission: Destroy facility in its entirety
     Success: Recorded
     Payment: 50,000 telos, one Anthracite Generator
     Payment Delivery: Initiated, destination is Dock 6,        Haveras Port. ETA- 24 hours

     That seemed to be in good order. Vinrey pressed "Continue". The screen spat out, "Thank you for choosing Atrocom" and reverted to the start screen.
     So the delivery would come in a day. The brand new AG would fetch at least 25,000 telos on the current market, and they could easily sell it in Haveras.
     75,000 telos divided by thirty-three crew members (Marcus included, he helped with the operation) equaled slightly more than 2,250 per person. That was a very good amount of what Vinrey called "vacation money", or money that wasn't spent on necessities like food and clothing.
     He walked out of the tiny building and started down the street. The streets were an interesting place in Haveras. Nearly anything could befall a person while walking down them. Someone might randomly pick a fight with another person, without the victim knowing it. A wily street vendor might try to strike up what seems as a very good bargain, but in fact is cheating the buyer out of a significant amount of money. The streets of Haveras were a gauntlet of typical lowlife attempts at lawbreaking.
     Today, Vinrey's crew would spend the day at bars, spending the last of their cash on various things, gambling, any of the wide things Haveras Port had to offer.
     Vinrey, on the other hand, had one specific thing to do, a thing he made sure to do every time he was in this town.
     Vinrey was the current defending champion of the Haveras Fight Pit.
     Pits were uncommon in the land , simply because of the small number of people unwilling to get hurt very badly. But in this town, people were considerably more brutal and vicious, thus, the Pit flourished. Vinrey had a history of fights in this town, because it was the only place that occasionally gave him a challenging fight. His crew knew all about it, and most of them knew their Conductor's fight times.
     Today Vinrey had a match to defend his title, and was now making his way to the Pit. He was looking forward to it.

     Vinrey stood in the preparation room, in front of the gate to the arena fight ground. In a few minutes, the gate would open, and he would meet his opponent in combat.
     Vinrey partly relished fighting in an arena because all fights were held at nighttime. He could remove his weighty cloak, and move about more freely.
     Underneath the cloak, Vinrey wore a short sleeved, black cotton garment, slightly longer than waist length. He also wore trim, black trousers. He didn't take off his black conductor's hat, his hair would get in his eyes. The black clothing stood out strangely against his paper-white skin.
     His trusty katana rested at his left hip, he had no other weaponry. He relied on speed rather than obscene amounts of ordnance.
     There was an echoing clank as the chains started ratcheting to raise the gate. He could hear the announcer and the roar of the crowd expecting a good fight.
     The gate began to rise, and as soon as he could, Vinrey studied his enemy.
     Directly across from him, on the other side of the arena, was his opponent. It was a tall man of apparently middle age, with greyish skin and short brown hair. He wore a crisp, navy blue business suit, which was unusual. His weapon of choice was a sort of mace, with a pole that was twice as long. Just by looking at it, Vinrey had a feeling that he would have a very difficult time just lifting that thing, let alone fighting with it.
     As soon as the gates were raised, each combatant stepped forward into the starting circles. Until the whistle blew, they were not permitted to leave the circle.
     Vinrey looked his unusually dressed opponent over, reading body language, trying to get an inkling of his enemy's strategy. The man in the suit was very calm, hardly moving, and kept his eyes locked on Vinrey. This gave the impression that his fighting style wouldn't be of a berserker fashion, but more measured and planned.
     The announcer said something indistinct, to which the crowd cheered and applauded. That probably meant the whistle would be coming any second.
     As he predicted, the whistle blew.
     Vinrey disappeared.
     The crowd was vastly entertained, this was a signature of Vinrey's. Vinrey was moving so fast that he couldn't be seen, dashing around the stadium. To the untrained eye, it was assumed that he simply vanished.
     The man in the suit didn't move, and was apparently unfazed by Vinrey's normally shocking first maneuver.
     Wasting no time, Vinrey jumped at his blinding speed down to the ground, leaving a visible puff of dust where his feet planted. From there he blasted off toward his enemy, drawing his sword and pulling it back for an incapacitating strike. He was still unseen.
     To Vinrey's astonishment, the moment Vinrey swung, the man in the suit brought his long mace up to block the shot. Vinrey didn't even see him move. There was a clang of steel on steel, and Vinrey jumped back, slowing down.
     Vinrey stood in the center of the arena, panting. He wouldn't be able to go to such a speed again, it was intended for a one-strike takedown. The man in the suit was very fast as well.
     Vinrey always had a backup plan.
     He rushed the man with the mace, holding his sword directly in front of him, making for a strike at the chest. It was a terribly obvious move, and easily countered. The second Vinrey struck, the man blocked the swipe with impeccable speed again, but when he brought his mace down, Vinrey was gone.
     Dirt exploded from the spot Vinrey had been standing. The strange man was very strong, as well as fast.
     Vinrey appeared to be invisible again, but in reality he was hiding above the arena inside the mesh of girders and screens that was the announcer's box. No one could see him, unless they were specifically paying attention to the announcer's perch.
     A good plan would be to fall on the man with his sword pointed downward, an aerial impalement maneuver. Only problem with that was that the crowd would surely give him away by cheering and gasping. Damn crowd.
     He figured it was better than nothing.
     Just as he let go of the girders, the man in the suit looked directly at him.
     There was nothing Vinrey could do. He couldn't change direction in midair.
     As expected, the man in the suit wound back with his mace, and let fly as soon as Vinrey was close.
     The mace slammed into his chest and flung him thirty feet away.

     Bactus was in the stands, with a few others of the crew, including Marcus.
     He said, "Oh no."
     Marcus looked up. "What?"
     "The Conductor's been hit."
     "Badly?"
     "Pretty badly. Look."
     Marcus looked out onto the field and saw Vinrey sprawled out in the middle of the arena. He was moving, but not very much.
     "Is he going to be alright?"
     "Don't worry, they don't allow killing in the Pit. But critical injury is allowed. Encouraged, really, it adds to the excitement."
     "So he won't die?"
     "Well. Maybe."

     Vinrey stood up, somehow. He was having trouble breathing, and he suspected that one of his ribs was cracked.
     The man in the suit didn't advance.
     Vinrey shook it off, and tried to ignore the stabs of pain from his ribcage.
     Then, without apparent reason, the blue-suited man fell to his right knee, and laid his weapon down. Vinrey looked at him and raised an eyebrow. He man answered by looking nonchalant and shrugging.
     Kneeling to your opponent and putting down your weapon was the motion of surrender in the Pit.
     The crowd gasped, then fell silent. The announcer said something, and the crowd started cheering and applauding.
     Vinrey, for reasons unknown, had just won the match.

     "Marcus, you'd better look at this." Bactus was staring down into the Pit. The cheering and applauding was nearly deafening.
     Marcus came over from a random food stand. His mouth was full of something. "Wha'?"
     "Look. That guy, he surrendered!"
     Marcus swallowed, with a bit of difficulty. "What?"
     "See? He's kneeling. That means he's giving in. Vinrey wins!"
     Marcus looked disbelieving. "That's odd... he was winning. He had absolutely no reason to quit..." He looked closer at Vinrey's opponent.
     Suddenly, it hit him. He knew who that man was.

     After the moderator had finalized the match's end, Vinrey was allowed to go back to the preparation room. But he didn't.
     "Hey!" he yelled at the man's back.
     The man turned around and gave him a blank look. He stopped walking.
     Vinrey rushed over to him. "Hey. What did you do that for? You had me!" He was clutching his side.
     The man looked at him in an almost bemused manner. Then he smiled. He said in a deep, rational voice, "Well. You're good. Very good, in fact. I saw that it was only a matter of time before you beat me. I knew a mace to the chest wouldn't stop you in the long run." His smile widened. "We'll be seeing each other again, I suspect."
     He hefted his mace over his shoulder and walked on, not turning back. Vinrey just stood there in the center of the emptying arena, bewildered.

     Vinrey was sitting at a bench, letting a Pit medic wrap his bare chest. The medical staff told him it was nothing but a cracked rib, as he had thought, and it would be a few weeks until it fused again. Until then, no more fighting.
     The spot where the mace hit him, on his right flank, was bruising brilliantly. Ripples of purple were already starting to form.
     After the medic assured him about his injuries for the umpteenth time, she left him alone in the room.
     His expected payment was significantly larger than usual this time.  After that single mace hit, the odds at the betting booth swung massively in the mysterious man's favor. It resulted in Vinrey getting almost triple his normal payment.
     In the dingy locker room, Vinrey's skin almost glowed against the olive green paint. He stood up gingerly, wincing, and walked over to where his clothes were hanging. He carefully pulled his shirt on, followed by his voluminous cloak. He felt warm, and back to his old self. Whenever he was in a bad mood, for some reason being at the Pit never failed to cheer him up.
     He walked out of the dim locker room and into the light.

     Outside, a few members of his crew were waiting to congratulate him. A few of them thumped him on the back, which hurt, but he put up with it.
     "Haw, good job, Conductor. I think."
     "Yeah, way to... win."
     "It was your first smart opponent!"
     Vinrey was slightly ruffled at the snide comments concerning the surrender, but it didn't bother him. He was looking forward to a lot of cash.
     Marcus, however, ran up to him.
     He said, panting, "Vinrey... That man, I know him."
     Vinrey's eyes widened. "From where?"
     "Remember that man I told you about? The one on top of the staircase at the scanner building, the one who disappeared inside the building?"
     Vinrey thought for a moment, then remembered. "That was him!?"
     "Yes! We've got to go after him!"
     He made a motion to grab Vinrey's arm, but Vinrey resisted. "Wait up, there. Why do we need to follow him?"
     "Because! He has answers. There are things I have to know!"
     Vinrey waited amidst the bustle of the Pit lobby. He figured payment could wait.
     "Alright. Let's go."