"I really hate Tuesdays," Ben sighed, staring at the tip of the broadsword hovering inches from his throat.

  The girl holding the sword didn't blink. Rain dripped from her red hair onto her silver armor. "I will ask you once more, thief," she said, her voice cold. "Where is Paladin Kael? The man who carried the Crystal. Did you kill him?"

  "Who?" Ben stammered, raising his hands slowly. "I don't know any Kael! I’m just the pizza guy!"

  "Do not lie!" She pressed the blade closer. "The man who had the artifact. He looks like... he looks like you."

  Ben swallowed hard, the image of the dying man flashing in his mind. He felt sick. "You mean... the guy who fell out of the portal?" Ben’s voice shook. "He's dead, lady. He just... he crumbled. Into ash. Right in front of me."

  The girl’s eyes narrowed. She lowered the sword slightly, looking past him at the pile of grey dust on the damp concrete. Her face fell. "He is... gone? Truly?"

  "Yeah," Ben whispered, still trembling. "And before he died, he shoved this... this thing into my chest. I didn't ask for it! You can have it back!"

  Ben grabbed the Grey crystal embedded in his chest. He tried to pull it. He grunted. He pulled harder. It was impossible. It wasn't just stuck; it was part of his anatomy now, flush with his skin like a second heart.

  "Ow, ow, ow!" Ben let go, panting. "Okay, it’s stuck. It’s definitely stuck."

  The girl looked at the dull grey object with horror. "It... bonded? Already?" She stepped closer. "That is impossible. The Chaos Heart rejects the unworthy. It should have burned you alive."

  "Well, sorry to disappoint you," Ben snapped, wiping sweat from his forehead. "It just turned me into a gorilla. Now, can you help me get it out?"

  Before she could answer, a screeching sound pierced the air. Sirens.

  Blue and red lights flashed through the warehouse windows. Tires squealed on the wet asphalt outside. "Police!" a voice amplified by a megaphone boomed. "We have the building surrounded! Come out with your hands up!"

  Ben’s face went pale. "Great. First monsters, then Crazy Sword Lady, now the cops. I’m going to jail for destroying a historical landmark."

  The girl looked at the windows. She didn't look scared. She looked annoyed. "The local city guards?" she scoffed. "Do they serve the Dark Council?"

  "They serve the taxpayers!" Ben yelled. "And they have guns! We need to leave!"

  "I do not run from guards," the girl declared, raising her sword. "I shall slay them."

  "No slaying!" Ben panicked. He grabbed her armored shoulder. "No killing the police! We just need to hide!"

  She looked at his hand on her shoulder like he was a contaminated insect. But before she could stab him, a tear gas canister smashed through the window. HISSS. White smoke filled the room instantly.

  "Cough! Okay, leaving now!" Ben grabbed his helmet. He looked at the back exit—a rusted metal door hanging off its hinges. "Follow me! My bike is out back!"

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  He didn't wait for her permission. He ran. Surprisingly, the Princess followed. Her armor clanked loudly, but she kept pace with terrifying speed.

  They burst out the back door into the rainy alleyway. Ben’s beat-up moped was leaning against a dumpster. "Behold," Ben said, coughing. "The steed."

  The girl stopped. She looked at the rusty, duct-taped scooter. She looked at Ben. "You expect a Princess of the Dragon Realms to ride... that peasant machine?"

  "It gets eighty miles to the gallon, your highness! Get on or get arrested!"

  BANG. A gunshot hit the dumpster next to them. That decided it. The girl sheathed her sword and awkwardly hopped onto the back of the moped. "If we die, I will kill you myself."

  "Deal," Ben yelled. He kicked the starter. Vroom. The moped whined under the weight of two people and heavy plate armor, but it moved. Ben gunned it, weaving through the alleyways just as a squad of black armored SUVs screeched around the corner.

  They weren't normal police cars. They had no logos. Just black steel and tinted windows.

  "Those aren't cops," Ben realized, shouting over the wind. "Cleaners," the girl yelled in his ear. "Assassins sent to wipe the timeline. Drive, Peasant! Drive!"

  Ben twisted the throttle. "My name is Ben!"

  They shot out onto the main road. The black SUVs were gaining on them. A guy in the passenger seat of the lead SUV leaned out with something that looked like a futuristic taser rifle.

  ZAP. A bolt of blue energy scorched the asphalt inches from Ben’s back tire.

  "Okay, I need to go Gorilla Mode again!" Ben yelled. He took one hand off the handlebars and slammed his fist into his chest, expecting the Blue light to return.

  THUMP. Nothing happened. The crystal remained dead Grey. He hit it again. THUMP. "Come on! Do the rock thing again! Turn me back into the monster! Anything!"

  The mechanical voice in his head chimed, sounding bored. [ERROR. SYSTEM DRAINED. COOLDOWN: 23 HOURS REMAINING.]

  "Twenty-three hours?!" Ben shrieked. "What kind of cheap battery is this?!"

  "It requires stamina!" the girl shouted. "You are weak! You used all your mana on the first transformation!"

  The SUV bumped the back of the moped. Ben wobbled, almost crashing. "We’re gonna die!" Ben screamed. "I can't fight them!"

  "Then steer!" the girl ordered. She stood up. On the back of the moving moped. Balancing on the tiny seat like a surfer, she drew her massive broadsword.

  "Keep it steady, Driver!" she roared. As the SUV lunged forward to ram them again, the girl swung her blade. It wasn't just steel; the blade glowed orange with heat. SLASH.

  She didn't cut the tires. She cut the entire hood of the SUV in half. The engine block sparked and exploded. The SUV flipped into the air, crashing into the one behind it.

  Ben watched in the rearview mirror, jaw dropping. "Remind me never to make you mad," he whispered.

  They drifted around a corner, disappearing into the maze of the city slums, leaving the burning wreckage behind.

  [SCENE BREAK]

  One hour later. Ben pushed his overheating moped into the safety of an old, abandoned subway station he used as a hideout. He collapsed onto a dusty bench, shivering. He was shirtless, wet, and exhausted.

  The girl hopped off the back, sheathing her sword. "You drive like a drunk goblin," she said.

  "And you slice cars like loaves of bread," Ben retorted, wiping grease off his face. He looked at the crystal in his chest. It was still Grey, pulsing faintly. "Who are you? Really?"

  She stood tall, placing a hand over her heart. "I am Vala. Princess of the Crimson Verse. And you, Ben... Ben what?"

  "Stryker," Ben said. "Ben Stryker."

  "Well, Ben Stryker. You are now the accidental owner of the most dangerous weapon in the Multiverse."

  Ben sat forward, head in his hands. "This makes no sense. The pizza order... that dead guy fell out of the portal five seconds before I got there. He couldn't have ordered the pizza thirty minutes ago." Ben looked up at Vala, eyes wide with panic. "Someone else sent me there. But why? I just came to deliver a pizza."

  Vala’s expression turned grim. "A setup? Perhaps. But it does not matter who sent you."

  She pointed at the dull Grey crystal in his chest. "When you rolled that Die, you sent out a signal. A beacon. Every monster, bounty hunter, and cosmic warlord within a thousand lightyears just got a ping on their radar."

  Ben stared at her. "So... what are you saying?"

  Vala shook her head. "I am saying you are no longer the delivery boy, Ben." She looked him dead in the eye. "You are the package. And the whole universe is coming to collect."

  [TO BE CONTINUED IN EPISODE 3]