Dane and Reggie went shopping, and were soon laden down with bags of miscellaneous items for his room. Dekartha had a lot of faith in him to give him that much cash-- or maybe she was the motherly type, feeling bad for the abandoned boy. He didn’t really have a feel of who she was yet.

“Dane,” ANDI said quickly while they were walking down the street, “I’ve been tracking those men Reiji was afraid of. They’ve made a loop and are heading to your location.”

“Oh shit.”

Reggie couldn’t hear ANDI of course, and just looked funny at Dane. “Huh?” Are you-- oh shit! Dane, follow me!"

He bolted down an alley as three riders on sleek, green-lit cycles tore down the street, speeding up at the sight of Reggie. They were dressed in leather, their helmets mirrored. They all looked identical.

Cursing under his breath, Dane followed behind, clutching his bags. He really didn’t want to abandon the things he needed to feel sane in that empty room or disappoint Dekartha by dropping her money on the ground.

He saw Reggie in the distance, up ahead, ducking into another alley-- and he saw a fourth biker cut through after him, much faster than he could run.

“No!”

Dane headed in that direction, but was unsure what to do if Reggie was cornered. He had to weapons-- he didn’t even have any skills in that area.

He turned down the alley and frowned, finding nothing. “Reggie?”

Dane was certain he’d been taken, starting to panic. He felt the flood of emotions as ANDI struggled to tell his body to release enough ‘happy’ chemicals.

“Dane,” he heard Reggie hiss from above. He shot his gaze up and saw him leaning out of a window, his mask on now. He’d climbed to lose the men.

“I thought.. oh god, Reggie, I thought you were dead.”

Reggie hopped down and Dane hugged him. Reggie didn’t know what to do about that, just patting him on the back.

“Ah.. thanks? C’mon, we have to keep going.” He led them down a darker alley, slimmer so bikes couldn’t follow. “This area is dangerous, but.. I don’t think they’ll check for us here.”

“Oh no, it really smells..” Dane was horrified. “It didn’t smell like garbage, it was more like meat gone horrifically bad. He gagged at the implications.

“Shh..” Reggie’s mask lit the way. It looked abandoned, but.. nothing was as it seemed in Avernus.