Apocalypse Trade Monopoly
Chapter 102: – Six Lessons

Chapter 102: – Six Lessons

The alley behind the office was what you expect. Cracked concrete stretched between the walls.

Ava stepped out slowly as the others filtered out behind her. Drinks in hand. The quiet hunger of people who lived too close to chaos and didn’t know how to put it down, even for a party.

She rolled her neck once.

[TARGET LOCKED – SHIFTER – NON-MUTANT]

[BODY TEMP: ELEVATED]

[RESPONSE TIME: TRAINED REFLEXES – MODERATE SYSTEM STRESS]

[EQUIPMENT: KEVLAR VEST / NEEDLE BLADE – BACK HIP / NERVE PATCH – LEFT WRIST]

[THREAT LEVEL: CONTROLLED – TACTICAL]

Keel stood ten feet away. Calm. Curious.

Lucas stepped up beside her, his coat brushing her shoulder as he tilted his head. "What do you see?"

Ava didn’t blink. "Blade’s on his back hip—concealed but not fast-access. Nerve patch on the left wrist. His stance is solid. Probably used to knives, not shocks." Her voice was steady, analytical. "If I move first, he’s done."

Keel raised an eyebrow. "And if I move first?"

She reached into her jacket, and pulled a compact stun-gun—matte black, bone-sleek, blue light flickering under the casing. She flicked it once.

Buzz.

Alive. Ready.

"Then you still won’t dodge twice."

Lucas let out a soft whistle. "This’ll be fun."

Keel’s smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth. "Guess I’m learning the hard way."

Ava’s eyes stayed on him. Her grip never tightened.

Her stance didn’t shift. She didn’t need to posture. She was the threat.

"Good," she said. "You’ll remember it better."

The circle around them widened. Drinks lowered. Eyes sharpened.

Lucas leaned back against the wall, golden gaze flicking between them like he was watching an expensive bet.

"Try to keep it educational, Beauty."

Ava moved one step forward.

"I’m teaching him what hesitation feels like."

[STRIKE PATH: LEFT KNEE – RESPONSE WINDOW: 0.62 SECONDS]

[FLINCH TRAJECTORY: RIGHT – ADJUSTED COUNTER: LEFT RIB / NON-DOMINANT SIDE]

She struck. No sound. No warning.

The stun gun cracked against Keel’s ribs with a quiet pop of energy.

He gasped—just once—then stumbled back, bracing with one hand.

Ava stepped back.

"Lesson one," she said, lowering the weapon, voice calm. "Speed doesn’t matter if you can’t read the setup data."

Keel winced, exhaling through his teeth. "Noted."

Lucas raised his glass. "That’s what you paid for."

Cassi grinned from the edge of the circle. "She didn’t even break a sweat. I love her."

Ava didn’t blink.

"Lesson two—" she was already moving. Low sweep to the ankle, sharp and sudden. Keel jumped back too late—his boot slipped on the edge of a cracked tile.

He steadied fast. But not fast enough.

"—don’t assume a retreat means I’m done. The system always calculates."

He reset his stance, eyes narrowing.

"Three," she said, circling. "If you didn’t pick the ground, it’s not your fight. I mapped this alley before I stepped into it."

Lucas’s voice slid in, lazy and fond. "It can be everything. Rooms. People. You blink, and already turned weakness is exposed."

Keel gave a breathless laugh. "That’s... horrifying."

"And profitable," Lucas added. "Don’t forget how valueble it can be."

Keel feinted left. Ava didn’t move.

[PREDICTED MOTION – LOW VARIANCE]

[.34 SECOND COUNTER QUEUED – HIGH SUCCESS]

She slid under his shoulder and jabbed the stun gun into his ribs again—shorter this time, more direct. He grunted, dropped low on instinct.

"Lesson four," she said over him. "Your instincts are wrong. Physics don’t apply to us anymore."

Cassi howled with laughter. "I don’t think he’s gonna survive six."

Lucas grinned.

Keel started to rise. Shaking off the hit. Breathing hard now. Still in it.

Ava tossed the stun gun toward Lucas’s boots.

Clatter.

Bare hands now.

"Lesson five," she murmured, stepping in. "If you’re thinking at all—you’re late."

He tried to block her—she pivoted under and twisted his arm behind his back before his system even flared.

He hit one knee.

Fast.

Hard.

No dramatic throw. No flair. Just efficiency.

Ava leaned in, her voice low by his ear.

"I’m not even doing my thing yet."

Then she let him go.

Keel stayed there for a breath—on one knee, chest rising and falling. When he stood, he looked at her differently.

Not angry. Not embarrassed.

Respect.

Lucas stepped in with a lazy swing of his glass. "See, most people think a system’s just some stat page. Abilities. Categories. Flashy tricks." He pointed to Ava. "But when you strip it all down—what makes her dangerous isn’t just her system. It’s how she uses it. That’s the part you can’t train against."

Elias, quiet until now, stepped forward, watching Ava with interest that wasn’t casual.

"So how do you counter it?" he asked.

Lucas tilted his head, but Ava beat him to it.

"With lots of planning and calculations."

Her system flared again—brief scan, fast, efficient digging up relaventada.

[TARGET: ELIAS – MULTIPLE TAGS DETECTED]

[TAG 1 – LOW-GRADE SCOUT SYSTEM]

[TAG 2 – DATA ANALYST – VISUAL MAPPING]

[TAG 3 – UNKNOWN – CONTRACTUAL BIND TYPE]

She stared. "...You’re tagged?"

Elias smiled slowly. "You’re fast."

Lucas moved in beside her. "Yes. And you should have scan him sooner. And don’t you find that the third tag’s familiar. Bunker12 lawyer? He upgraded recently. Binding contracts that link through systems."

Ava turned to Elias’s satchel, pulled free a stack of synthetic paper. Her system hummed.

[MATERIAL: BIO-ENCRYPTED THREAD]

[FUNCTION: SYSTEM-ACTIVE CONTRACTS]

[TRIGGERED BY: SIGNATURE + ENERGY FLUX]

Live paper.

Lucas smiled. "You could kill someone with a pen."

Elias raised his drink. "Only if they deserve it."

Cassi shook her head. "What kind of world are we building if a contract can kill you?"

Ava didn’t answer.

Didn’t blink. Didn’t flinch.

Just stood there in the alley’s half-light, contract paper in one hand, and the weight of far too much silence sitting on her shoulders. The others kept talking—Elias with his theories, Cassi poking fun, Keel trying not to look like he’d just been publicly dissected.

Lucas was enjoying himself, as always.

But Ava?

Bored.

The kind of bored that made her fingers twitch for tools. For metal. For purpose.

She turned, eyes locking on Lucas’s left arm where it rested on the hilt of his belt knife—bracer half-scorched, chipped at the edge from three missions ago.

She moved before he noticed.

"What are you—?"

Her fingers slipped under the release catch. One sharp twist. The bracer came off.

Lucas blinked. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," Ava replied, turning. She dropped her bag beside her with a thud. " It’s embarrassing."

He glanced at Keel, then back at her. "We’re in the middle of a conversation."

"So talk." She pulled out her toolkit. Sparks already flying. "You’re good at that."

"Keel. Every system holder has something they don’t list."Lucas nodded toward Ava. "The kind of ability you don’t broadcast. You list a scan type, a function, a category—but your actual weapon? It stays off record. It’s instinct. It’s the specialty."

Keel looked skeptical. "And hers is?"

Lucas chuckled, soft. "A secret."

Keel looked over at Ava, who was now fully hunched over the bracer—stripped it to its base plate, laid out sync thread along a new alloy cuff, and was cutting measured lines into the outer seam.

Focused. Fast. Lethal without trying.

Terrifying by design.

He gestured loosely with his drink. "Let’s just say this—if you’re comparing her to mine, you’re wasting time."

Cassi raised her glass again. "And that’s why you’re still breathing."

Lucas smiled. Didn’t deny it.

Over by the wall, Ava finished tightening the last core-socket, threading her own signature into the inner pulse weave. She clicked the bracer shut—sleek, blackened steel with a shimmer of etched runes only visible under direct light.

Then she held it up. Didn’t speak. Just waited.

Lucas walked over, held out his arm without a word.

She slid the new bracer onto his wrist.

It locked in with a soft hiss of energy, sync light flashing—

[MONOPOLY SYSTEM BRACER – CUSTOM LINK DETECTED]

[COMPANION SIGNAL FOUND – ACTIVE IN PAIR RANGE]

[REACTIVE MODE ENABLED – PARTNER STRIKE RESPONSE SHARING ON]

Ava reached to the second one made from extra parts from the first. The design mirror to his. Thinner. Built for her. She strapped it on without ceremony.

Lucas looked at the two of them. Matching.

Left side only.

"So we’re doing couple armor now?"

Ava didn’t smile. "Left side’s the most exposed in close-range combat. Strategic."

"...Sure."

He looked down at the way the edges lined up. The pulse between them—barely a hum—just enough to know someone else was synced to your survival.

"It’s a bit romantic, though."

"Don’t ruin it."

She brushed past him and sat down again, already sealing up her kit.