Morning rolled around and Roxy woke up in her room. While they were few and far between, even Grid Battleforce did give people days off, though in the case of cadets, strictly speaking they were considered study days. With so much coursework, training and suchlike to pull together. Lecture notes to be written up, assignments to be completed, and the training facilities such as the gyms and firing range were open all day for the cadets to use. Of course, when you had a bunch of people who were working and studying all day, most of whom also lived on-site, trying to tell them it wasn't a day off was an exercise in futility.

She was enjoying the novelty of a long lie in when there was a knock on the door. She just groaned and pulled the covers over her head, but whoever was outside was persistent and kept knocking. Eventually she had to get up, her duvet wrapped around her and shuffled to the door, opening it up with her eyes barely open. She found Benny standing outside the door, holding a package.

"Uhhh." She grunted. Benny was shifting nervously, trying to look anywhere except for Roxy. While she was covering up, he still felt more than a little uncomfortable seeing her before she'd gotten dressed.

"I have a package for Zoey." He muttered, speaking into his chest to try and avoid looking at her. He and Betty had been cut from the program a while back now, but they were determined to help out in any way they can. Quite literally any way. They had been kept on, but they didn't really have a job title so much as they just kind of worked wherever they were needed. Mostly it was just filling in for people who were otherwise engaged or doing whatever jobs had fallen so far down most people's to-do list because they were so terrible no one wanted to do them that eventually someone just had to do it. Right now, his sister was on the security desk, while he was doing the mail run. Roxy just grunted and took the package off him. "I need a signature to…oh OK!" Roxy had disappeared back into the room and shut the door before he could get her to sign to confirm the package had been received. He just picked up his mail bag and continued around the base, intending to come back for the signature later.

Roxy put the package down on the desk, before returning to her bed, flopping face-down onto it. She checked her watch and groaned. It was already almost midday. Even she couldn't justify sleeping in all day, even if it was a day off. She instead was grateful that the mess was about to start serving lunch and went to hit the shower.

Over in the laundry, Zoey was utilising her day off for another reason. Just like when she was back in High School, she never really could afford days off, and while she did have studying to do, she couldn't turn down the opportunity to do extra shifts whenever they were offered, and the laundry department was one of the departments with the highest instance of injury and sick days on the base. The combination of machines and chemicals was one that did lead to a surprising number of accidents considering the fact they were on a base where people were regularly training with live weaponry.

She finished loading another machine, before slamming shut the door and wiping off her forehead. After starting it up, she checked her watch, but found that it was saying that it was only eight o'clock. She started tapping it and shaking it, but it wouldn't move. She just rolled her eyes, before pulling out her cell phone and checking the time on that. Midday, perfect, lunch time! She slapped the side of the machine and headed out of the laundry, heading for the mess hall.

Nate was in the mess hall, having his lunch. While most people were more than happy to eat the food from the mess hall, but he still had a habit of making his own. It wasn't that he had any particular problem with the meals in the mess hall, Grid Battleforce did operate as a military site and so they knew the value of making sure their workers had access to good nutrition, he was something of a paranoid and picky person when it came to what went into his body. The downside of having earned a PhD in Chemistry and Biology before most people were even thinking about their driving test was he was more than aware of what the chemicals used in a lot of food production could do to the human body and it had given him a little bit of a phobia of not knowing what people were doing to his food, so he tended to prefer being given the ingredients and making his own.

He wasn't much of a chef, but he was more than capable of making a salad and a sandwich. He was just contentedly eating his lunch while he checked something on his tablet.

"Hey, Nate, there you are! Mind if I sit down?" Roxy asked him.

"Well…I…"

"Thanks!" Roxy replied, before sitting down with him. He just sighed. He was starting to think he preferred it when the military types didn't really care who the 'lab rats' were and would just leave him alone. "Dude, what the hell was that last night?"

"What was what?" He asked her.

"You totally bailed!" Roxy told him.

"I didn't bail, I just didn't want to be somewhere I was being made fun of." Nate told her. He hadn't had much experience with bullies. His parent found most schools couldn't really challenge his intellect and had put him into home-schooling at a young age, but even he understood the nature of what bullying was. He didn't have anything to prove to Blaze, and he really didn't care what Blaze thought about him, but he did care what Zoey thought. She was kind enough to come to his defence, but while it was flattering, all he could think was that she thought he was someone that needed to be looked after, to be protected. He wanted her to see him as…well…he wasn't sure how he wanted her to see him, but not like that anyway.

"You mean Blaze? Nate, he's just an asshole, he always has been." Roxy told him. "What do you care what he thinks?"

"I don't." He huffed.

"Then why leave? Why give him that satisfaction?" Roxy asked in response as she took a mouthful of pasta. "You know, there was a time he started up on me, you know what I did?"

Nate just shrugged. He didn't really feel like hearing some inspirational tale of standing up to bullies. He was well aware of the fact that while Blaze was an accomplished martial artist, he was no slouch himself. His parents did always like him to keep healthy, and he had always been a fan of the Power Rangers stories his dad told him as a kid, so he did take lessons. It also meant he was able to check the calibrations on his VR training devices himself and get direct data rather than second-hand accounts from others that he would have to interpret. He had broken the boards, as much to let out a little frustration as to annoy Blaze. If Blaze had wanted to try anything, then he was perfectly sure that he'd at very least give him something to think about. She seemed to take the hint and just backed off.

"Say, what's this you're looking up?" She asked, taking the tablet off him.

"Hey, that's…"

"Hydro-worm?" She asked. "Wait…Hydro-worm? As in that cheesy, cheap horror franchise?"

"I…I like the story-telling." He said to her.

"Story-telling?" She asked disbelievingly. "It's hardly the Iliad."

"It's a really good, structured, tight story-driven narrative…"

"About a worm that grows to over two thousand tons because it ate irradiated lettuce?" She asked.

"Well…one of the finest horror stories ever written was a story about a possessed Plymouth Fury." Nate pointed out.

"Tell me, how did they beat the worm in the last one again?" She asked him.

"Well, they put together this huge pile of rotting vegetables in which they hid a pile of C4 and…" He said, at which Roxy just put her chin on her hand and looked at him. He just tailed off. "OK, so…they're silly but they're fun! I spend all day every day using my brain, it feels good to turn it off once in a while."

"And boy do you have to turn your brain off to watch those…HEY! ZOEY! OVER HERE!"

Nate almost fell out his seat with how loudly Roxy yelled, but as Zoey came over, she noticed Nate was sitting there and became a little hesitant.

"Hey…there." She said as he put away his tablet. He had already had to justify his love of cheap horror movies once today; he really didn't want to have to do it again. Zoey leaned in and whispered to Roxy. "Roxy, what is he doing here?"

"Nate and I were just chatting…"

"Roxy, I haven't showered or anything, I look gross!" She told her. Roxy just took Zoey's tray from her and put it down.

"So, nice day in the laundry?" She asked.

"As nice as it ever is." Zoey muttered, sitting down, keeping her eyes on Nate, who seemed to be looking away from her, concentrating on his food. "Maybe I should take this to my room and…"

"No, no, sit! Sit and enjoy this wonderful pasta!" Roxy told her, slapping her on the back, before looking to her hand and wiping it off on her jeans. "So, I heard from a little birdie that they're putting together some kind of review panel for the final couple of months of the program."

"Panel?" Zoey asked. "I thought Commander Shaw and the General…"

"No, apparently they're getting some kind of experts in to help out." Roxy told her. "Something about 'relevant experience' or something."

"Wait…how do YOU know about that?" Nate asked. Both Roxy and Zoey looked straight at him, making him want to kick himself. He had just confirmed the rumour.

"More importantly, how do YOU know that?" Roxy asked him. Nate just breathed a sigh, before he signalled them both in closer. They both leaned in.

"Because I'm pretty involved in the running of this place." He told them.

"You work in the lab." Roxy stated. He just shook his head.

"I do slightly more than that." He told them. "I kind of…I'm…I'm the one that discovered Morph-X."

Roxy just spluttered and laughed a little hearing this.

"Dude, seriously, I've heard some lines but you expect us to believe you were the one that discovered Morph-X?" She asked.

"What do you think Nate is short for?" He asked her. "My name's Nathaniel Silva."

Both girls simultaneously dropped their cutlery. His family closely guarded him, not even allowing the press to get pictures of their son, but the name Nathaniel Silva had been widely published in relation to Morph-X and the related technology. He was on the cusp of creating the technology that would completely revolutionise not just the energy industry, but the entire planet. If it took off, which everyone expected it would, the motor industry, public transportation, air travel, space travel, electronics, engineering…pretty much everything would switch to Morph-X overnight. His discovery was, without exaggeration, probably the most revolutionary discovery since splitting the atom.

"You're Nathaniel Silva?" Zoey gulped.

"I prefer Nate." He told her. "And…yeah…and before you ask, that's why I don't advertise the fact."

"Dude, if you wanted to shut Blaze up, just tell him that pretty much everything here is down to you!" Roxy exclaimed.

"And that again is exactly why I don't!" Nate replied. "Look, can the two of you not say anything?"

"Sure thing." Zoey assured him. With that, Nate gathered up his things.

"I should probably get back to the lab." Nate told them. "And…try not to tell anyone about the panel alright?"

"Sure thing." Roxy said with a little nod. As he left, they just watched him go.

"Nate is Nathaniel Silva?" Zoey gasped.

"You're a fan?" She asked.

"You have no idea!" Zoey asked. "The Silvas are going to save the world! They're at the forefront of every environmental development in the scientific community!"

"And…you're a science nerd?" Roxy asked.

"No, I'm an environmentalist." She corrected her. "It's the main reason I chose this place to work…I heard the name but…I had no idea Nathaniel Silva was our age."

"Well, it appears so." Roxy said. "You…you can close your mouth any time by the way."

"Yeah, sorry." Zoey responded, turning her attention back to her lunch. "God, Nathaniel Silva…I must have sounded like such an idiot all those times I talked to him. 'Do you harm the animals' yeah, like Nathaniel Silva would ever do something like that."

Roxy just watched as Zoey went back to eating, and a little bit of a smirk started to cross her face.

"So, want to do a cram session later?" Roxy asked her. "You know, once you get off shift?"

"Sure, why not?" Zoey replied with a shrug.

In another part of the city, a kid walked in with his friends. The lights flashed and noise blared in an assault on the senses that made some people steer clear, especially in a day and age where online games and home consoles made video arcades all but obsolete, but as he stepped in and breathed in deeply the slightly stale, musty air with just a hint of collective body odour and cheap fried food, all Devon Daniels could feel was that he had come home.

Devon walked through, accepting handshakes, high-fives and bro-hugs from people as he went. Devon was something of a celebrity in the world of gaming, especially in his home city of Coral Harbour. For some people, gaming was a hobby, something they could pick up and put down whenever they got a passing interest. For others, it was an obsession, something that if they were able to, if they didn't have to worry about things like bills and jobs, they would happily spend every minute of every day doing. Some even managed this, in the way of live-streaming and monetised gaming accounts, but to Devon, it was something else entirely. It was his own little world, somewhere he always felt like he could come home.

He was a gifted gamer; he had been ever since the day his dad hooked up a Nintendo just to show him what kids his age used to do for fun. Since then, Devon was hooked! He loved finding a new game to test his skills on. Puzzles, strategies…while some saw computer games as just a dumb thing for people with no attention span, he saw challenges that were every bit as keen a test of the mind as chess or sudoku. Only…with a little bit more colour and noise.

"Hey man, how's it going?" One of his friends, Mike, greeted him with a bro-hug as he got there. "You been getting your rest in?"

"Hey, you know it man, I wasn't even thinking about getting out of bed before noon." Devon responded with a chuckle. He and Mike leaned against a machine and looked out over the arcade. He was up for a tournament on one of the newest games, the latest in the long-running tournament fighting series 'Psycho Burner IX'. It was a game that made headlines all over the nation for its over-the-top and graphic fantasy violence. Characters would regularly bleed far more blood than it was physically possible for any human body to even hold, and there were moves hidden in the program for the canny player that were not just finishers that could be pulled off at the end of the bout, but could actually end the bout in a ridiculously barbaric death move that left a dismembered corpse all over the arena even in the middle of a bout. The game was only just getting released today, so the strategy guides weren't online or out in stores yet, but as a promotion, the developers were holding competitions for gamers to take part in tournaments in their local arcades for prizes. Devon had spent some time preparing mentally, getting down particular button combinations and joystick moves that did special moves in other games in the hopes of finding moves in a game for which no one else knew any of the moves yet. "So, what's the competition looking like?"

"Well, we've got Southside. You know that dude's always bringing his a-game." Mike said, pointing to another guy with a similar crew. Unlike Devon, he had his own merchandise, wearing a leather jacket with his name on it, and was actually signing autographs. Southside had a highly successful gaming livestream from which he earned his living, getting advertising revenue and games developers regularly sent him their products for free so he could demonstrate them to his millions of followers. Devon had suggested to his dad that he could easily do the same since Southside had actually lost to him in quite a few tournaments. His dad, of course, turned him down flat on that suggestion. He was all about getting a 'real career' as he put it. Now that Devon was out of high school, he wanted to know when he was going to college, or when he was getting a job. He knew his dad loved him, he even had plenty of money and had promised to back any college course he wanted to go to, but for Devon, all he could think was why was there any hurry? The odds were he'd be working until he was in his seventies, so why did he need to make the decision what he wanted to do with his entire life right now? Was it really such a bad thing to just find something he liked now and doing it until he decided he wanted to do something else?

"I didn't doubt he'd be here. I'd have been surprised if he wasn't." Devon answered. "You entering?"

"Naw, the Green Bear is sitting this one out." Mike chuckled. "I stopped following the Psycho Burner series after they killed off Overdrive. That girl was my go-to character!"

"I do see a few familiar faces…" He started to say, before he heard a commotion a little way off. He and Mike both turned to look, seeing a group of guys hanging around a machine, giving the girl playing it a hard time. Mike and Devon both looked at each other and just nodded, before moving in.

"Come on, move off that machine, it's embarrassing seeing you here!" One of the guys called out. "You know these games ain't made for people like you."

"I'd say they aren't made for people like you." Devon said as he and Mike stepped in. "Given the fact that girl's score is higher than yours by…wow, four places? That is such an embarrassing margin!"

"Hey, no one asked you!" The guy snapped.

"We're all gamers here." Mike chipped in. "Well, some of us are, but the way you guys shoot on this game? I'm not sure what the hell to call it."

"Christ, looks like we got us a couple of white knighters." Another member of the group said.

"White Knight?" Devon asked, looking between himself and Mike. They both spluttered a little, before doubling over laughing.

"Are you…are you serious right now?" Devon said, wiping away some tears. "Dude, that Gamergate thing was dead and buried long ago! The minute you start spouting those nonsense, meaningless terms you realise you just make it clear your point of view isn't worth listening to, right? The whole gatekeeper bullshit is as dead as Overdrive!"

"DUDE!" Mike protested. "I'm still in mourning about that!"

"Sorry." Devon replied, fist-bumping Mike.

"You're just an SJW…"

"And you're a tea cosy." Mike replied. All of the guys just looked confused. "Oh, I'm sorry, but I thought we were just throwing random, meaningless words at each other."

"You should have stayed out of this." One of them said. Mike and Devon could see them closing in, they were ready for this, but as they did, others started to come around the machines. Now, they could see that there were in fact about eight of them. Devon and Mike started to back up.

"What's the matter? Scared?" One of them asked.

"No, just getting a little room!" Mike called out, before somersaulting forward and hitting a kick right across his shoulder, tearing it out. Devon rushed in to the attack as well, quickly levelling one of the guys with a hard elbow. Mike was something of a mentor to Devon, not just in the arcade, but in life too. His family had apparently been practicing Martial Arts almost since birth as a family tradition now for more generations than any of them really knew. Devon thought it was awesome the first time he saw Mike take down a guy who made the mistake of trying to lift the stack of quarters Mike had on the machine he was playing on. As soon as Mike told him he could teach him to fight like a video game character…Devon was sold!

Mike had given Devon Martial Arts lessons now for a good couple of years, and Devon was, if anything, as gifted with that as he was at gaming. Between the two of them, they very quickly got the upper hand. Before long, no one cared about any of the games and were instead cheering on the real-life video game characters beating the holy living hell out of a couple of guys that had given a lot of the people there a hard time at one point or another.

As Devon levelled the last of them, putting him down with a harsh kick to the side of his face, he stood over him.

"Asshole, don't you get it? THIS is the kind of bullshit that kills gaming!" Devon yelled at him. "You think every kid that comes in here needs to 'prove' to you that they're a real gamer? Well guess what? EVERYONE that likes games is a gamer! Everyone picked up their first game once and…"

"Uh…Devon?" Mike said. "He's already unconscious, he can't hear you."

"Alright, everyone break it up!" A cop called out as they stormed into the arcade. "Alright, what happened here?"

"It's alright officer, we're fine…"

"Yeah, but they're not!" The cop replied. "The two of you, turn around, hands behind your back."

"Looks like Southside just got this one in the bag." Devon sighed as they both turned around and knelt down, putting their hands behind their backs.

Back at Grid Battleforce, Zoey had finished her shift and headed back to the dorm, finding Roxy with her books out, already preparing notes.

"Hey there." Roxy greeted her. "So, you want to eat first or…?"

"No, first I want a shower, because right now I feel like my bodyweight is about 90 percent sweat." She said as she headed to her room.

"I'll put on a couple of cup noodles anyway." Roxy told her. "Oh, by the way, a package came for you! I put it in your room, hope you don't mind."

"Roxy, I'm not a charity case, I have my own…"

"Now, this one isn't from me, it has a return address and everything!" She assured her. Zoey finished up with her shower and got changed while Roxy made up a couple of cup noodles for them. She almost spilled them everywhere when she heard a shriek from Zoey's room.

"What?" Roxy called out, running in. "Is everything…?"

"It came, it came, it FINALLY came!" Zoey squealed as she opened the parcel. "My mom promised she'd forward this as soon as it got in. I've been waiting for this for ages!"

She had unpacked the box all over her bed. Roxy just looked at what she saw.

"You're…you're kidding right?" Roxy asked.

"I would NEVER kid about Nikki Reve!" Zoey said as she pulled on a t-shirt. "Hydro-worm three, the revenge of Hydro-worm!"

"DVD's and…even the poster. You are serious." Roxy said as she forced a smile. "Wow, my room-mate is a dork. I never would have known!"

"You have no idea how much I love those movies!" Zoey told her. "Anyway, are those cup noodles ready? I'm starving!"

As she headed out to get her food, Roxy picked up the poster and looked at it.

"Hydro-worm?" She asked, before rolling her eyes. "God, you two are such adorable puppies. You are totally going to kill me!"

Meanwhile, at the police station, Mike and Devon were in a cell. Mike was lying on the bed, getting comfortable while Devon was pacing impatiently.

"Dude, relax." Mike told him.

"Relax?" Devon asked him. "We've just been arrested!"

"Yeah, and we'll be released once the judge hears the other guys started that fight." Mike told him. "It just sucks we got arrested on a Saturday."

"Why's that?" Devon asked him.

"Because the courts are closed on the weekend." Mike told him. "So, there's no judge to arraign us. We need to wait until Monday before they'll even read our case."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Devon muttered. Mike was a little surprised as a couple of cops walked into the custody area and unlocked the cell.

"Alright, you two are free to go." The cop told them, waving them out impatiently. Mike sat up, with a smile on his face.

"You see? This is what you call karma. You do good things, good things happen!" Mike said sagely.

"I'm not too sure about that." Devon muttered.

"Dude, you're not exactly looking too cheerful for someone who just got released after only an hour in a cell on a weekend." Mike answered. He could see that Devon was a little hesitant, almost as if he didn't actually want to leave the cell. "Dude, come on, let's go! If we go now, we can at least see the final rounds and find out who won."

"I doubt it." Devon replied as they headed out. When they got to the main entrance lobby, they were confronted by a man in a suit, one whose face was on posters all around the city.

"Mayor Daniels?" Mike asked.

"Hey dad." Devon whispered quietly. Now, the whole scene made sense. Now he was realising that their release was less to do with karma and more down to the fact that Devon's dad likely had the judge's home number on speed-dial.

"Devon." He said sternly. "Get in the car."

"Dad, I was just…"

"We'll discuss this at home. Get in the car!" Mayor Daniels told him, gesturing outside. Devon just headed outside. Mayor Daniels looked to Mike. "I've heard a lot about you from my son, and I understand you've been a good friend to him. Make no mistake Mike, this is a one-time deal. I won't be doing you a favour like this again."

Mike just nodded in understanding, before looking to him.

"Um…I didn't vote for you, but…can you please go easy on Devon?" Mike asked him. "He really didn't start that fight."

"If I want advice on how to raise my son, I'll ask for it." Mayor Daniels replied. "Now, please just go."

"Sure thing Mayor Daniels." Mike replied as he left, deciding not to push his luck any further.

Mayor Daniels went outside, to the limo that was waiting for him. He got in the back where his son was sitting.

"Dad, I…"

"Do you have any idea how humiliating it is to be in a meeting with a parents' concerns group and get a phone call to tell me that my son has been arrested for affray."

"Dad, I didn't start…"

"I don't want to hear it Devon! Life isn't one of your video games!" Mayor Daniels told him. "And you can forget any more of those Martial Arts lessons with that friend of yours."

"But dad…"

"I don't want to hear it!" Mayor Daniels snapped. "Now, we can talk about this at home, but thanks to this little…unpleasantness, I've had to delay some very important meetings."

"I'm sorry." Devon replied. "Can you at least drop me at the arcade?"

"Don't you think you've caused enough trouble there for one day?" Mayor Daniels asked as his phone rang. "Now, I need to take this."

Devon just sighed and looked out the window as the limo pulled away from the curb. His dad was always fighting to make the city a better place. It was the reason why the city had already voted him in for a second term. He just wished his father could see that in his own way, Devon wanted to do the same thing.