Balalaika couldn’t help but sigh at her wasted attempts at friendliness; the deaf who strode up the mountain trail seemed content in their abilities with little room for future alliances, at least not with the likes or her today. The rat man on the other hand… that might be a different story. He spoke in a childish way, although seeming to get answers from the so called Supreme Commander Ba’al. “Quite the charismatic one, aren’t you?” The blonde said with hints of sarcasm in her voice. “I am Balalaika… and it’s both a pleasure and a surprise to meet one such as you my furry friend. None the less, my offering of supplies goes out to you as well, so long as you plan to hunt the dragon.” 

Balalaika would follow along the decrepit monster and do the same as everyone else, eventually convening at the crowd that gathered around the sentient feline. With all these hands available, surly the group would be able to succeed in their task at hand, but overall everyone seemed scattered and unorganized. Now having welcome downtime both a cigar and lighter were produced from the bag on Balalaika’s back. She wasn’t able to take a nice smoke since back on earth, and this seemed like as good a time as any. The nicotine proved to calm and clarify, at the expense of anyone around who didn’t find joy in its smoky embrace. Sensing protest, she moved over to the outskirts of the group while also keeping clear of Kane, who peered eerily in her direction. She looked at him for a brief moment and then paid him no mind. After a few minutes of smoking and thinking, Balalaika put out the cigar on the underside of her boot, and approached the group once more. 

In a loud commanding tone, “Excuse me ladies and gentleman. I’d hate to remind you, but we do have to go through a few weeks of this shit, and the longer we mill about here, the less time we’ll have to rest in the city before the next challenge. I’ve personally never fought a dragon before, but if it’s as much of a threat as it’s been made out to be, the best chance we have is to go all out in a coordinated strike. If we can ambush it, that would be even better. I am Balalaika, and as a former Captain in the Soviet Armed Forces, it would be an honor to lead once more into glorious battle, and even greater to have a team of strong soldiers behind me. So tell me, are any of you prepared to fill those roles? To earn the right out of this God-Forsaken place and make it back home? I think you are, because if we’ve made it this far separated, just think about what power we’d have together! I say we march up that mountain right now and show that dragon that we’re even greater than legendary!” 
 
As Balalaika gave her speech, Kane nearly felt empathy for the girl. He wondered how she got those scars that littered her body. He’d have to ask later. All this talk of dragons was getting the masked man antsy. But if killing one was what it took to make it out of this place, Kane would comply, and then strangle whoever it was that sent him here. Of course the only person he could think of was his brother in this case, but if that were so than why was everyone else here? It could be that this world was some sort of hell for the damned, but that might be too good to be true. That thought sent an unseen smile across Kane’s face, but it was a fleeing happiness. Why would they have goals to complete if this was a plane of insanity? No, this was a competition of sorts, and much like acquiring the title belt, they’d have to take out quite a few big names to do it. There would be alliances made and broken, betrayals, hardships, and if it all didn’t take place in a ring, Kane could have sworn he was back in the WWF. 

So, would he join up in this woman’s makeshift army? The answer was yes, it felt like the most advantageous decision at the time, and if things changed later, he could always brake off on his own or team up with others. Taking his electrolarynx up to his damaged vocal cords, Kane gave a response in an emotionless mechanical voice. “I will lend your cause the powers of the devil himself to destroy the dragon. When I’m done with it, the beast shall burn in hell.”