Patrol (3): Deviant Pursuit (1)- Location Discovered: ??? ????? ????? ??? (Warehouse District)

--- Maya ---

“Look we came this far we might as well see what she’s up to.” She told herself as she followed the Deviant.

A task that wasn’t anywhere near as difficult as she’d thought it’d be given how the Deviant in question while using constructs to get around the rooftops wasn’t really moving that fast given how they had to run across the rooftop before making their jumps at the ledge.

(Okay, I’m getting bored…) Her inner madness admitted after a few minutes. (I thought this was supposed to be like a high speed pursuit chase or something?)

“Look at it this way if they aren’t moving fast then that means they aren’t going to escape us and we can follow them to wherever they’re going.” She tried to assure herself, even if it was meant more for… her than her inner passion.

(Nice save.)

(Shut up.)

(Anyway, what are we going to do if they aren’t committing a crime though? They could just be taking a rooftop shortcut home.) Her inner pessimist groaned.

(Well, given how we’re heading further into the warehouse district rather than towards any residential area I believe we are following them towards something of interest.) Her inner logic pointed out.

(Ugh, I still say shooting them would’ve been more fun.) Her inner child pouted.

(It also would’ve picked a fight we needn’t pick.)

(That’s the point. I want to pick a fight.) Her madness reminded her more reasonable self with a mental roll of the eyes.

“Both of you shut up for a second.” She told her other selves as she watched the Deviant grab onto the roof edge with one of their constructs before rappelling down to the ground. “They’re doing something.”

Watching her target from down the street and using her Headset and COMP to keep track of them, she saw the Deviant walk up to the side entrance of a warehouse before pounding on it. After a few moments the door opened and let the person inside.

“Okay, so they went into a warehouse… this looks interesting.” She had to admit, especially when her COMP’s mapping program revealed a fair number of people inside of the warehouse, some of whom her programs flagged as hostile for having violent records. “Very interesting.”

(Perhaps but how are we supposed to get inside?) Her inner logic wondered.

(Uh, the front door?) Her inner madness suggested as if it were obvious.

(And if this happens to be a gang warehouse or some other such fight?) Her inner reason questioned.

(Then we fight. Like I wanted.) Her inner simpleton -(Maya she’s bullying me again!)- answered.

“Yeah, this would definitely be easier if we had some kind of intel of what this place was before we went in.” She agreed with her smarter self. (Uh, I’m the smarter self.)

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

(Debatable since I figure out half our tech works!)

(I keep us from doing stupid things.)

(That we do anyway when we ignore you!)

(...)

(Wait…)

(You aren’t helping us there…)

Shaking her head clear she looked at the door once more before bringing her bike up to it, close enough that it couldn’t be seen by the slot in the door that she was sure for vetting anyone who came up to it.

Since she didn’t actually know what the warehouse was about she was hoping she could bluff them into opening the door or the security into telling her what was inside the warehouse so that she could have some idea of what was going on. If things went sideways then she could always speed off on her bike before they could get out the door.

(This is a terrible idea…) Her inner survival instincts warned her. (Perhaps we should rethink our course of action.)

(Didn’t we just go over this!) Her inner madness growled. (You tell us something is a stupid idea and we ignore you!)

(You two are going to get us killed…)

“Look we’re not going to get killed, we just have to go in there and see what’s up. And besides even if we do end up fighting we took on a whole pack of Bloodhounds by ourselves we can handle this.” She talked herself up in the hopes of building up a confidence she really wasn’t feeling.

(Speak for yourself we shall kicketh ass and taketh the name of the ass we have kicked after branding it with our shoe from how hard we kicked it! Note to self create our own brand of shoes for ass kicking purposes.)

“No… that sounds stupid.” She told herself after a moment.

(Yes, I have no intention of noting that idiocy down.)

“Eh, I don’t know. If you’re trying to hype yourself up, it’s not the worst pitch. Though I’ve got to ask if you dealt with the Bloodwolf at the end or just the lesser Creeps? Because that’s two different levels of street cred there.”

She jumped upon hearing the voice and realized the eye slot of the door had been opened and a pair of obscured eyes were looking at her, their reflection the only thing visible through the slot.

“Um, uh, I uh, I dealt with the boss Creep and the uh, other Creeps.” She admitted, completely fumbling her composure as she was put on the spot. “There was this Bleed just before Halloween and… yeah…”

“I getcha, weeks before Halloween get crazy in this town.” The guard nodded in seeming understanding. “Well, if you put up a fight there and liked it I can see why you’d want to give the pits a try. Though I’ve got to ask, given how I don’t recognize your face, who told you about us?”

“Uh, Decker.” She lied, throwing out the first criminal name she could think of and hoping it wouldn’t bite her later.

“Decker… who?” The guard blinked causing her to grimace.

Refusing to just roll over that easily however she instead doubled down. “DJ Decker. From the Gamer’s Guild? Likes music, wears these stupid shades even inside?”

“Oh, that guy.” The guard nodded. “Usually if we get anyone sent by them it's from that TPK girl, she’s got this whole thing about making sure their guild keeps at least one of the monthly trophies.”

(Trophies?) “Yeah, no, I uh, I did him this solid while they were doing their dungeon thing and he told me about this place after they had to close down.” She explained, only half of her words being true as she started piecing together what this place was.

“I see… are you an actual member of their guild or…?” The guard trailed off.

“I’m independent.” She answered.

“Alright, well since we can’t just check your stats and achievements to verify you’re good enough to enter, we’re going to have to give you a try out.” The guard warned her.

“Uh, what kind of try out?” She asked several thoughts flickering through her mind as her foot started to press down on her bike’s throttle.

“Eh, nothing too dangerous if you're serious about entering the pit.” The guard assured her. “Just got to prove you’re not wasting everyone’s time by lasting five minutes with one of the guards, or if you’d prefer we can see how long you can last in the Bloody Ballroom which is easier and harder depending on how you handle things.”

(Well that is both ominous and… familiar for some reason….) She thought. (Still I’m ninety-five percent sure I’ve stumbled across a fight pit of some kind… I’ve just got to figure out what to do about it.)

(The smart thing would be run.)

(The fun thing would be fight.)

“Kid, I don’t got all day, what’ll it be?”