Is this destiny?

Spike confidently stepped into the arena\'s enclosure and faced Sarah.

She was surprised to see that he is not affected by her previous performance. Isn\'t he afraid that he will get hurt? It must be the confidence of a teenager, they easily believe that they are invisible.

"Are you a man who stands behind his words?", Sarah asked before the fight started.

Spike smirked. "What do you want?"

"When I defeat you, you will tell me why you ran away from home."

Spike\'s smile faded. "Who sent you?"

Sarah\'s eyes flashed. Her question stirred him more than she thought it will. "Defeat me and I will tell you."

"If I defeat you, you will obey me, no questions asked.", he smugly announced.

Sarah tilted her head. "And when I defeat you, you work for me, no questions asked. Deal?"

He responded with a small nod.

"Oh, and I get to fix your hair."

Sarah\'s comment made Spike squint at her.

"You!", he squeezed through his teeth.

"Enough talking, I\'m a busy woman. Show me what you got.", Sarah gestured to him to start attacking.

Spike launched series of attacks and Sarah only defended while observing that he is using Muay Thai moves mixed in with Savate. His speed and precision are impressive. After about twenty hits, Spike noticed that Sarah didn\'t attack, and she didn\'t move either. This difference in strength was… embarrassing.

Spike started aggressively attacking Sarah\'s legs, making her retreat two steps. It didn\'t take him long to realize that she didn\'t use her left arm. And she didn\'t use it in her previous fights either… Spike\'s eyes flashed with excitement as he focused his attacks to the left side of her torso, trying to take advantage of this \'weakness\' she has.

Sarah decided that the play time is over. His smug expression irritated her, again. She lifted her left arm and blocked his kick with her forearm.

Spike\'s face contorted in pain as soon as his shin landed on Sarah\'s forearm.

"I hope you didn\'t break your leg. I don\'t want to wait for it to heal before you start working for me."

Sarah doesn\'t want to cause long term damage to his body. After all, he is her latest employee.

She swiftly approached him and hit a pressure point to render him unconscious.

The update on the board showed:

\'1. Mr. A -> Wins: 583 wins, Losses: 0 losses, Ties: 0

2. Shift -> Wins: 172, Losses: 3, Ties: 0

3. Twister -> Wins: 78, Losses: 5, Ties: 0

4. Haru -> Wins: 11, Losses: 0, Ties: 0

5. Nyx -> Wins: 11, Losses: 0, Ties: 0\'

From there, our group of five (plus unconscious Spike) went to the Black Hole club.

Shift greeted Sarah enthusiastically. He observed curiously Jesse, Haru, Ade and Jamari (and unconscious Spike).

"This is Jay, the latest champion in Black & White... and this is Haru, the champion in the White Valley…", Sarah introduced them.

She saw that the leaderboard has Mr. A and Shift as familiar names, and there are three more fighters in the VIP lounge. Two men and one young woman.

"Current champions?", Sarah asked Shift.

He confirmed.

Sarah was pleased with this and turned to Ade and Jamari. "Both of you get to fight here. Which one first?"

She didn\'t want to let them fight, but she was out of excuses. Ade and Jamari bickered, and Sarah sent Jamari to go first.

Sarah saw that it\'s getting late and she showed to the handler her list with remaining people she wants to talk to.

"Can you summon these to come here from other clubs as soon as possible?"

That will save them time, and since everyone from her group gets at least one champion\'s spot, they don\'t need to go to other clubs.

By the time they ended with their tasks at the Black Hole, the updated leaderboard showed:

\'1. Mr. A -> Wins: 399 wins, Losses: 0 losses, Ties: 0

2. Shift -> Wins: 101, Losses: 1, Ties: 0

3. KitKat -> Wins: 98, Losses: 2, Ties: 0

4. Dark Claw -> Wins: 11, Losses: 0, Ties: 0

5. Raven -> Wins: 11, Losses: 0, Ties: 0\'

Sarah praised Jamari (aka Dark Claw) and Ade (aka Raven) for their performance and nickname picking.

Our group of five returned to the White Mansion as a group of six.

Ronald (aka Spike) frowned while rubbing his neck, and his frown deepened when he reached for his right shin. Everything is hurting. What is going on? Why is he moving?

His eyes sprang open when he realized that he is in the car. Extra-long limousine that can accommodate more than ten people has four young men (two are kids) and one young woman looking his way.

"Who are you?", Ronald asked.

Sarah reached to her side and lifted a mask she was wearing inside clubs. "Familiar?"

Ronald inhaled while remembering five masked people. And he fought against her, and he lost… somehow with her mask on, he thought that Sarah will be older. At least a little bit. He rubbed his forehead while thinking: \'I lost miserably to a girl who is about my age\'. 

He looked at Sarah. "Now what?"

"You lost, so now you work for me. The job comes with food and lodging included."

Ron squinted. "What is the job?"

"That comes later… Now I need to know why did you run from home, Ron?"

He frowned. "No one calls me that anymore."

"How do you want to be called?", Sarah asked while reaching to touch his mohawk. She thought how that dreadful thing needs to go. It will be just a matter of a hair wash and a haircut.

"How do you know my name?"

Sarah lifted her eyebrows and reminded him: "Only the winner gets to ask questions. You better start answering mine, or I will beat you up for real."

"Is that how your threat your employees?"

"Only the ones who are backing off from their word."

"What do you mean?"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "You are asking questions again…"

"I\'m being kidnapped! I have the right to know who are you, where are you taking me, and what is… Ahh!!! What did you do?!", Ron screamed while rubbing his shoulder.

She just slapped him without a warning, and it would not be strange if she didn\'t reach for that small pouch in her belt first.

Sarah tilted her head slightly and spoke in a tone which showed that she is reaching her limit with patience: "I have things that I need to accomplish and I\'m hiring capable fighters who can pull their own weight. I admire your skills, but your attitude is shitty. I know that you are still a teenager and need a lot of discipline, but I don\'t have the time to play with you. I need to know what you can offer me and if you are a trustworthy person. I can reward you well, give you a new identity and help you hide from whatever you are running away… but no matter what your skills are, if you don\'t start realizing that this IS serious and adjust your behavior, I\'m going to throw you out of the car and you can go back to that dirty arena and enjoy the kick from wining against people who can\'t differentiate their left from right fist."

Ron swallowed hard and responded with a small nod.

"Good…", Sarah exhaled when she saw that his arrogance faded. "Tell me how did you end up in that place?..."

Ron was the only one talking from there until they reached White Mansion.

"Your house?", Ron asked Sarah when they reached. He was embarrassed by all the things he said in the car, but he could not stop himself from talking. The only good side is that no one in there made fun of him.

"No. We are here until tomorrow, and then we are going to Los Angeles."

Sarah instructed Jesse and Haru to take care of Ron when they headed to shower. "Make sure he does not cause any trouble." Ron seems more docile now, but she does not want to take any risks.

Five of them are staying in a house dedicated for security staff, in a room with six beds, so there is space for Ron.

Shawn wanted Sarah to stay in a separate room, and Jeff and JoAnna wanted her to stay in the main house. Sarah rejected both of those options. In order to keep the image of \'personal security\' she stayed with the guys, and there is no way that she will be able to sleep if she is by herself in the room or sharing one with Shawn\'s people. And she didn\'t want to leave her kids in this hostile environment by themselves.

Sarah placed few cameras for Eve, to keep watch over them… just in case.

When they settled to sleep, Ron was full of questions, but Sarah told him to keep them for later: "It was a long night, and we have things to do in the morning. Stick to four of them and follow their lead. Not everyone is friendly here. There will be time to talk..."

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