Chapter 14 · Iron Arena - Chapter 14: Sign Your Brain Away

The scout's name was Ellis. Clean suit, cleaner smile, contract already printed.

Lila held the paper like it might burn her fingers. We were in the alley behind the gym, three hours after her sync spike, and I still couldn't get my pulse under a hundred. Ellis leaned against the brick wall, patient as a loan shark.

"Take your time," he said. "It's a standard city-league training agreement. Six months. If you pass the qualifiers, you move up to the main circuit."

I snatched the contract out of Lila's hands. She shot me a look that could strip paint.

"Let me see it first," I said.

Ellis didn't stop me. That was the first red flag. The second was page three, buried under liability clauses and equipment fees. Neural performance monitoring. Mandatory sync-rate optimization sessions. Health data sharing with league medical staff.

I knew this language. I'd signed it once, seven years ago, when I was nineteen and stupid and thought a 94% sync rate made me invincible.

"She's not signing this," I said.

Lila grabbed the contract back. "Excuse me?"

"Look at section twelve. They own your scan data. Everything.