He also didn't feel like he deserved it. The blue light of the teevee, set on the local NBC affiliate and showing blue-and-white pictures, bathed the room in light.

 

Worst of all, Tom was a quitter. He tapped out, and had lost the match all his hopes were staked on. With that, he was lost. Nothing that Tommy could have mustered had been any help. He hadn't been able to help Christian. He hadn't been able to help Eugene. He hadn't been able to help Sam. He hadn't been able to help Voss.

 

He hadn't been able to help anybody. Or anything. He wasn't good enough. He wasn't strong enough. He wasn't man enough.

 

And so he had been sitting on the edge of the bed, using an exercise toy. Or at least, he thought he had been through most of Leno. As the show changed over, Tom finally looked down. There, held between his fingers, was a little velvet sack with a piece of hard, cool metal inside. He knew exactly what the thing was, and he had even said he would take it up again. He had made a decision a little while back...

 

If Tom Sawyer wasn't man enough to beat Claira St. Sure after going to the Faces of Death Training Temple and busting his butt to get stronger and better, he would... take a step to move forward. And be stronger. Better. Everything that he wanted to be. 

 

He knew all too well the power that this little bag contained. He knew exactly what it would mean to take up the burden once more.

 

And it scared him. It scared him quite a bit.

 

His cell phone, sitting on the bed next to him, buzzed. Tom didn't register it for a few moments, still running his thumb over the raised image on the front of the medallion. He could feel the outline of the hat, the sunglasses, the beard...

 

Tom finally gripped the bag tightly in one hand, feeling the embossed image pressing into his palm. He scooped his cell phone up, and hit the "Read dat text message" button.

 

It was Tom's buddy in the DEFIANCE front office.

 

And he was telling Tom what match he had in the upcoming week. Retaliation.

 

Heidi Christenson.

 

"Well. Now I'm screwed.", Tom muttered. He thumbed the link that was contained in the message, and the first of the hype videos relevant to Tom began to play. 

 

Heidi was... absolutely deadly serious. That was a scary look on her face. And the barely restrained rage in her voice... Tom had stepped in it, now. Thinking himself invulnerable because of past success, the kid had stuck his neck out.

 

In two on two competition with a dude alongside who could stand up to anyone, Tom had been able to pick fights with anyone he wanted. But against the Untouchables... This was too much. Every mistake Tom had made, skewered perfectly. Laser-razor precision. Why hadn't Tom thought to ask Penn, Burke, Matthews and Cassidy, Jones, Kort...

 

Well. There was a rejection or two of the Rider's hand in friendship. Tom had honestly thought himself lucky to get as many guys as he had gotten to expose themselves to the burning light of the Untouchables' focus. 

 

But that didn't matter. The part that mattered was that Heidi was going to kill Tom. And he had only one chance to save himself, now. His ribs had still not healed. He would get slaughtered, and in an Untouchable-owned DEFIANCE... Begging off for recuperation time would be flatly denied.

 

Tom took a great big swallow. He had already gotten one person injured and possibly retired by involving him in his affairs. He had to fight Heidi alone.

 

Blandly, Tom realized a sensation in his hand. The edges of the thing in the bag were painfully jabbing into his palm, almost trying to leap through the cloth. The thing inside there wanted to be part of Tom. Tom knew it did. And he knew what it could help him do.

 

Tom... put... the... bag... down.

 

It took as much effort as redirecting the Alpheus and Peneus to clean the stables. But he switched it off with his phone, tapping out a message. To Eugene. Tom would see him in Mechanicville. They couldn't stop now, they were making enough of a nuisance of themselves to require squashing. And if they could get that much done...

 

Tom glanced over to the velvet bag. His jaw clenched, and he thought for a few long moments.

 

Then, he tapped out a tweet.

 

#NotJustAKid