I saw him tense his thigh and I jumped. I was in the air before his foot rose from the ground, easily avoiding the kick. I turned around, not sure who had asked the question. “Did you see his thigh? He tensed it. You have to trust your gut and your eyes. Your focus has to be on the fight and—”

I felt the vibrations in the mat behind me and the shift in the air and sidestepped.

Santiago plowed right by me and into the ropes.

“And you should never turn your back on an opponent.” I shook my head at him. “Weak sauce, cheap move, dude.”

Santiago let out a surprised laugh. “Unless you have eyes in the back of your head, you couldn’t see me coming.”

“No. But I felt the mat move with your heavy footfalls. You have to use all of your senses in a fight. Sight. Sound. Feeling—gut and physical. And smells.” I sniffed the air. “You need a shower, Santiago.”

That one got me a few laughs.

“You’ve gotten better.” Santiago nudged me with his elbow.

I wasn’t sure if that was true, but I hadn’t gotten any worse since I’d last fought him. “I can train you if you want. Jorge had me teaching classes for the last few years.”

“And me?” I heard Audrey’s voice yell above the chatter and the room quieted. “Will you train me?”

“And me?” Another woman’s voice called out. “I… I’ve never fought before, but I’d like to feel…”

I found a blonde standing on the other side of Tyler from Audrey. “Safe? You want to feel safe. Because being here with SpaceTech, you don’t feel safe?”

She looked around the room, her cheeks turning pink. There were criminals in here, sure. But most were good people who’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time. People who had been taken advantage of.

“I get it. We’re all here for one reason or another. Maybe some of you were convicted of a real crime, or maybe you’re like me. Maybe you didn’t do anything wrong. Maybe SpaceTech is using you.”

There were a lot of nods.