[Redd]

"Hold!" Roja threw a hand out, catching absolute bear of a man right in the chest. Tirador winced as the air was knocked out him and fell back in line with a muttered curse and a dirty side look at the woman.

"What the hell woman?" He growled back swinging around and waving his FAMAS directly in Roja's face. "Why are we stopping? We're not there yet."

Roja's brow furrowed into a fierce scowl and she carefully turned the barrel of the assault rifle away with the nose of her Tec-9. "Maker, can you fucking not Tiro?" she growled back. "I know the safety is off. And we're waiting for the other boys. That was the plan you idiot."

[Redd]

The larger, stockier man leered down at the smaller woman for all of a minute before stepping back and letting out a deep chuckle. "You still got some fire, eh boss?" he laughed, lowering the rifle and leaning over her and reaching out to lightly play with the edge of her red tank that'd started sliding off her shoulder. Roja narrowed her eyes, at least happy he'd used the word boss this time and not woman, but gave no ground and didn't back up. "C'mon, after this, lemme buy you a drink."

Ugh, this again.

[Redd]

Roja sighed and started fishing in her pocket for her cigarettes, using the size of the man towering over her as a wind shield as she lighted up. After taking a deep long drag and breathing a cloud in Tirodor's face, she finally forced a wolfish grin on her face. The man muttered curses and waved the cloud away but still wasn't going to back off.

Ughhhh, fine. She'd play the game.

"Mi osito." she purred, reaching up to brush her red painted nails across his cheek. And then she turned and roughly jabbed him in the side. The man doubled over with a pained expression doing more than mumbling curses this time. "The answer's no. Always has been, always will be." she followed up a lot more sternly, looking down on him, green eyes cold.

[Redd]

"Hey Boss! Hey Tiro!" A man with short, scruffy sand-colored hair waved them down. Behind, trailed a sullen looking man. Both men were armed, though one looked far more enthusiastic than the other. "You a'right there bud?" Larry happily continued, patting a now doubled over Tirodor on the back, without waiting for an answer. "We're in position Boss, a perimeter's been set up. If the cops show up to look at this, we'll know straight away."

"Right." Roja curtly nodded, looking between the two. "Remember, it's simple. A quick in and out. We need to work out if this mist is dangerous and if we can find some way to benefit from it."

[Redd]

"Yeah, about that. Police chatter says it's safe to breathe without assistance." The sullen one piped up, removing an earpiece and stowing away in one of his pockets. "They're quarantined the zone though to keep the civs out. No surveillance on it yet, but there's scientists on the way. We probably have about 30 before they detect us."

"Good work. If the chatter changes, let me know. I don't want casualties today. Strictly recon, alright?" The woman stared down all three of the men around her, taking in the various nods, though some more relucant than others.

[Redd]

At the head of their small party, Roja carefully waved a hand into the thick mist wall in front, watching with some wonder as it parted between her fingers, before quickly clumping back together. If Greg hadn't just told her it was safe, she would have been close to kicking Tirador's ass in, just as pay back. But she was their leader and she had to set an example.

She, the Red Devil, leader of these thugs was not a pushover and wasn't afraid of shit. And the rest of her gang would soon have even more solid proof of that.

And with that, the woman stepped into the fog, gun raised, breath tight in her chest.

[Redd]

And... you know, as expected... nothing happened. The mist swirled around the small group of four as they moved. Here and there, some sections sparkled, like glitter, catching the light and reflecting rainbow back into the fog.

It could have almost been pretty.

Roja, on the other hand, saw more than that in the mist. Shapes rose up around her and she wasn't sure if it was a result of an overactive imagination or that there were... other things. Many claws grasped and faded away. Hooded beings with many gnashing teeth and jaws glided through the air.  A little further down the street, it looked like a lumbering beast with a crown of thorns and a mane of spikes was passing through. Memories of a different time still lingered, even now... she guessed.

[Redd]

Demons.

And not the biblical kind like her namesake either. Demons from another time, another place.

Another lifetime.

"Hey, this ain't so bad, huh?" Larry grinned back at Tirodor. The larger man huffed and rolled eyes, but even Larry had seen that the man had been holding his breath since they'd entered.

"Sure. It's just fuckin' fog." Tiro growled back, now pointing the gun at the more chatty man. Maker, Roja hated that. One day the idiot would shoot someone, she was calling it now. Larry was hardly phased though. That was right, nothing ever phased him.

[Redd]

"Careful, I'd hate to see you both trip and fall flat on your face." Greg muttered from behind, fiddling with his phone, totally missing two sets of glares. "On that thought..." Without slowing, he pulled his backpack around to his front and fished out a device. After a few button presses on both the device and his phone, the machine came to life, whirring and buzzing and carefully, the man let it go. After a bit of unsteady wobbling, Greg started keying in instructions to the drone, activating it's lights and directing it higher above the group. "There. We'll see where we're going. Which... is?"

Roja jerked back to attention, pulling her thoughts away from dragons and demons. "Uuuuh. On Fifth. There's a gun store." she said pointing roughly to where she thought they had to go. Two blocks down and one to the left. Maybe.

[Redd]

"Right... loading it in now..." Greg hummed half to himself, keying in the address. "There! Good to go boss." The man pointed at the drone, which turned and started heading down the street with renewed purpose.

"Great. I knew there was a reason I was keeping you around." Roja quipped, flashing the hacker a cheeky grin.

Greg pressed his lips together in a very long drawn out sigh. "I thought it was because I was 'a push-over nerd who could steal money for you.'" he quoted, rolling his eyes. Behind him, the other two men snickered.

[Redd]

"Damn straight it still is. Why are you still talking?" Roja whirled around on him, face suddenly furious, Tec-9 aimed straight between his eyes. The man froze, fingers inches away from his phone. After a brief pause, Roja spun back around with a snort. "C'mon man, it's a joke. Do you ever get out?"

There was a brief sigh of relief. "No boss, and if you don't mind... I'd prefer we don't make this a habit. I can't do much out here. It's a waste of time and my many talents." he casually explained, trying to shrug off the fact that he'd frozen up. Not without warrant though. Roja had earned her nickname fair and square and she was not a woman you'd want to cross.

[Redd]

"We got a place for everyone, eh? We're just sharing the field work around." Larry happily clapped a hand on Greg's shoulder. The hacker started for a moment, before realising it wasn't Tirador. "This shit's new for me too. I'm just the recruiter, I don't do this shooty-shooty shit."

"No, you talk my ear off usually. And yeah, the 'shooty-shooty shit' is my thing." Roja snorted, rolling her eyes. "I figured it'd be good for all three of you to get out together. You're my most trusted but we never do anything together!" There was a pout and a slight whine thrown into that. She wasn't pleading. Much.

[Redd]

"Boss, if team building was what you were after, we could'a just gone to Papa John's. Or better, I know a place that has the best beers and wings. Just ask me next time, instead of doin' this..." Larry paused, waving his hands through the smokey mist to make a point. "I dunno, explorin' shit."

"Count me out. I ain't goin' anywhere unless there's women or guns." Tirador sneered from the back, almost sounding offended that they were even having this conversation. "Both preferably."

[Redd]

"But the winngggggssss man." Larry whined, almost pleading in tone. Tirador barely even huffed at Larry. Fairly common response, the warlord barely even considered the other two on his level. Hell, it was tough even for Roja and she was their leader. He seemed to only listen to her out of respect for their past leader Raphael but...

Well, he didn't know she'd only dated him, so she could kill him and take control of the gang.

[Redd]

And it was better no one knew that. Tirador wouldn't be the only person who'd want to kill her. She'd argue that their gang had benefited though. They'd gone from small backstreet deals to blackmailing big pharma companies for drugs to resell, extorting cops, running a lucrative gun trade and had abolished a large amount of sex trade in her territory. A few of the men were unhappy about the last part, but despite being a criminal right now, she hadn't always been like that.

There'd been at least 5 years of her adult life where she hadn't been wanted, come on now.