Matt stayed on Kai's trail.
So close he could count his breaths, but so far it might as well have been another world. Kai wasn't there. Not really. The drug had hollowed him out until all that remained was a body moving toward its next hit.
Matt clenched his fists. He knew this substance. Chain. They drilled it in training: obedience in a vial. Hook them once, and they'd sell their soul for another taste. There was an antidote—he just had to keep Kai alive long enough to get it.
The comm buzzed.
Pzzz—Matt, we've been compromised. Relocating to secondary. Document secure.
Matt stood still. One order meant escape, safety, clean hands. The other meant throwing his lot in with a city designed to devour men whole. He'd already made his choice.
"I'm not leaving. I'm staying with my friend."
A pause. Then: Affirmative. Stay safe.
No argument, no fight. Just silence. He'd been written off. Fine.
---
Later, he found the boy. Seventeen years old, barely a man, but in this city age didn't matter. Power did. He was the one who had bought Kai, flanked by two guards who didn't blink when Matt approached.
"You want him?" the boy asked, voice carrying that smug mixture of arrogance and boredom only the young could manage in this place.
"I want him alive," Matt said. "And I want him clean."
The boy shrugged. "That's not how this works."
So Matt changed his approach. He lowered his head, swallowed his pride, and offered what leverage he had left.
"Then use me. I'll fight. Duo matches. I don't want pay—I want him kept breathing."
The boy's grin sharpened. "You'll fight under my banner. You'll follow orders."
Matt nodded once. "Agreed."
The deal was sealed with nothing more than that smile.
---
Afterward, Matt walked beside Kai. He looked at him, really looked—eyes dull, lips cracked, shoulders sagging under invisible chains. The Kai he knew wasn't there.
"Kai… it's me. Matt."
The Azura Center loomed like a jagged tooth over the district, its glass and steel walls throwing back the sickly neon glow of the streets. The place wasn't built for beauty. It was built for spectacle, for blood, for coin. Every brick and beam reeked of exploitation.
Matt walked beside Kai, keeping a steadying hand on his arm even though Kai hardly registered the contact. His steps dragged, uneven, like a puppet missing half its strings. The guards didn't care—if Kai stumbled, they shoved him forward with the butts of their rifles.
Inside, the noise hit like a wave. Voices, clashing steel, the heavy thud of flesh against flesh. The center was alive with violence, crowds packed into tiered stands that circled the arena floor. Matt forced his expression to stay neutral. One flare of anger, one wrong glance, and they'd cut Kai down where he stood just to prove a point.
The boy who owned Kai—seventeen, sharp-eyed, with the arrogance of someone who'd never been told no—marched ahead. His cloak brushed the dusty ground, trailed by two guards who walked as if they'd kill without hesitation. Matt hated him, hated how easily he controlled the lives of others. But for now, Matt had to play along.
They were led into a holding pen beneath the arena. Rusted gates separated the fighters from one another. Matt guided Kai to a bench and sat beside him. Kai's eyes slid shut, his head falling back against the stone. For a moment, he looked almost peaceful. Almost.
Matt leaned closer, voice low. "You hear me in there? You're not done, Kai. Not by a long shot."
Kai muttered something that dissolved into a slurred laugh. His hand scratched absently at the needle marks along his arm, desperate and unconscious.
Matt caught his wrist gently, holding it still. "You don't need it. You need out. And I'm going to get you there."
The boy appeared then, leaning against the bars, a grin playing at the corners of his mouth. "Touching. Very touching. But don't confuse loyalty for leverage. He's mine. You? You're on trial."
Matt stood, meeting his gaze without flinching. "I said I'd fight. Put me in with him. Duo matches. I'll keep him standing."
The boy studied him, amused. "You'll follow orders. No hesitation. No backtalk."
"Agreed," Matt said, voice like stone.
The boy's grin widened. "Good. Then prove it. Tonight you fight together. If you win, maybe he gets his next dose. If you lose…" He gestured casually at the iron gates. "Well, then I find new toys."
The words stung, but Matt didn't let it show. He had already made peace with the cost. If slavery to this smug teenager was the price of keeping Kai alive, then so be it.
He sat back down beside Kai, who was staring blankly at the floor. Matt spoke softly, as if the words could seep past the fog in his friend's mind.
"We'll get through tonight. One match at a time. I'll carry you if I have to."
Kai blinked slowly, lips twitching into that same lazy smile. "Chain?" he whispered.
Matt's jaw clenched. "soon." he felt a pit form in his stomach. He's getting Kai out of here.
He was sure of it.
The crowd roared overhead, a bell sounding to signal the next fight. The gate creaked open.
Matt rose, pulling Kai with him. Whatever waited beyond, he was certain of one thing—he wasn't letting go.