Crime Scene 20.3
Tuesday. 6:00 pm. Sirens’ Dream Lounge.

The violet lattes were a success. It gave Bo a break before Sia and Geoff got back to cajoling them for their life story. Bo seemed to be enjoying their rapidly growing collection of wild guesses that got further and further from reality as they kept going.

“You don’t want us to get the wrong ideas, do you?” Sia asked innocently. "I'll think you're up to something."

“Yeah, if you don’t tell us, I’ll think you’re a secret ninja in hiding from a dark past and a million dollar bounty.”

Bo chuckled. “What if I am?”

“Then why aren’t you doing ninja stuff?”

Bo sighed and set aside their drink. “I’m not a ninja,” they said finally with exasperated amusement. “I was on track to win the international karate championship. But that was a long time ago. I studied a lot of martial arts for over a decade before that. But it was a passion, not a job. I wasn't doing superhero stuff, either," they added, anticipating Geoff's budding question.

Geoff and Sia were on their phones. “What style of martial arts?” Geoff asked.

“What year?” Sia asked.

“All kinds. But the competition was for kenpo. This was…five years ago now, I think.” Bo seemed amused at their furious typing.

“Wait…I got it! Was this you?” Geoff turned his phone around to show a video of a younger Bo sparring against another black belt. Their hair was tied up tightly out of their face and they still had both their legs. Their moves were impressive, even from a layman’s eye. With that skill, Bo would have done just fine without their interference. Still, no regrets there. It was wrong to just sit back and watch a friend fend for themselves when you could help.

“Yeah, that was the year before my last competition.”

“So, what happened? Why didn’t you win?” Sia prompted.

Bo smiled tightly. “Cancer. I didn’t even know about it. They think some physical trauma or stress from the competition made things worse. I threw a clot.” They patted their left leg. “Dropped in the middle of a kata display. Lost the leg.” They pulled up their pants, revealing a shiny black prosthetic. “Good thing is I found out about it in time for treatment.”

Geoff looked fascinated, his imagination running away from him. “Does it come with a rocket? Or a spear? Secret compartment for snacks?”

“Um, no, I can only afford a basic model. There is a hollow section for balance, but it’s not big enough for snacks,” Bo said wryly.

“But you look like you could still do well in competition. That fight was amazing,” Sia said.

“It took a while to get back to that level. And by then…I was in a lot of debt. Competition isn’t going to pay for that. I needed a full-time job,” Bo smiled sadly. “It was either tacos or the mines.”

“The mines” was the by-word for the popular pipe dream of digital currency mining. The lie was that the machines could maintain themselves. In actuality, to make money, they required massive time investment and manual maintenance. It was more than most people were capable of. Whole buildings of people got together to maintain rigs that were constantly at risk of overheating. Despite warnings, people still tried it, some passing out from heat exhaustion and occasionally, buildings caught fire.

“Good choice.”

Geoff, ever looking for some excitement asked, “Can we spar sometime? I gotta see more moves.”

Bo chuckled. “Sure, just name a time and place.”

Over Bo’s shoulder, Rose’s helmet of bright red hair caught Ellie’s eye. She waved, only to see Rose duck out of view again. Yet it looked like Rose had wanted to talk to her. Ellie checked her phone.

R: Can you sneak away for a bit? We need to talk.

Ellie immediately made her excuses and hurried to a small supply closet just past the lobby where Rose had disappeared into. Something had to have happened for Rose to need to talk to her like this. But why did it seem like she was hiding from someone?