Pithy did not bother sweeping the rest of the floors, instead following the staircase down to the ground level. 

The stairs led out to what seemed to Pithy to be a large receiving area. There was a long, oval desk with machines much like the glass box she had encountered above, and hallways led out to the right and left of it, both reading ‘UNDERGROUND ACCESS FOR PERSONNEL ONLY’. She thought she could see the glare of red eyes from deeper inside.

More pertinent to her situation, there was a set of double doors at the opposite end of the room, with the same ‘EXIT’ sign she had seen on the rooftop hanging from above it.

Pithy began to walk forward, rapier in hand and eye darting to and fro, scanning for turrets she might have missed. She reached the entrance without incident, and pushed it open with her free hand.

The night air greeted her

Pithy couldn’t help but to feel a measure of relief at being outside the strange building. The walls and ceiling may have provided cover from threats, but the lack of life beyond black-winged monstrosities and the uncertainty that she might accidentally trigger some kind of alarm or defense system in her search had never left the back of her mind.

Her current surroundings were no less strange, but at least they were improved by a clear view of the sky above.

As she had seen from the rooftop, large poles were placed along the path, evenly spaced from on another. Focus lights were attached to them, sending light streaming down in wide beams that illuminated the way from building to building, but here and there, intermittently between poles along the sides of buildings and within the alleys between each facility, the dark remained deep enough that she feared someone might be staring straight at her.

She considered stepping out from the illuminated path so her eyes could adjust to the darkness, but the fluttering of wings and sudden, shifting movements in the darkness dissuaded her. She noted that bloodied corpses of the dark, winged things had begun to accumulate on the illuminated path before the entrance—no doubt the work of the turrets in the rooftop. Less than she expected, however. 

The dark trails leading into the dark told her all she needed to know. It seemed the local wildlife would not waste a free meal no matter the source. 

She wondered if that had been the intended purpose of these lights, to keep these animals from harassing those who worked here as they went from building to building, but that assumed the beasts had been present while this place was staffed. Something in her gut told her they were a more recent addition.

Pithy began to walk down the illuminated path, sticking close to the sides of the building and keeping an eye for obstacles she might use as cover in case something began shooting at her. The light made her feel horribly exposed, but she instinctively understood that the bats would not come for her in the light unless she provoked them. At least the thunderous sounds coming from up ahead led her to believe the enemy was not yet laying in ambush for her.

Along the way, Pithy saw signs of break-ins to some of the Justice hubs adjacent buildings. One of them had a pair of turrets flanking a door, both with their barrels drooping to the ground, sparks jumping from where their red eyes should have been. The door itself had had its lock smashed, and judging by the sonorous cracks she kept hearing, she had a good idea of what could have wrought this damage. 

Without bothering to investigate the building, Pithy carried on towards the sound. Soon enough, she caught sight of what she had been looking for. The announcer’s flying familiar was there, seeming to peer around a building’s corner to where the peals of thunder were coming from. Now, however, they were accompanied by the sound of fluttering wings, screeches, and challenging, vociferous screams.

“You’ll never catch me alive, you honky mahfahs!” 

[i]BLAM BLAM BLAM.[/i]

Pithy sidled out of the light to the wall below the familiar, glad that the bats’ attention was elsewhere. She did not know whether to blame that on the commotion ahead, or on the fact that they seemed to actively avoid the familiar flying above her. At this point, they must have known better than to carelessly approach the metal constructs.

She peered around the corner to see a baffling sight.

Standing atop a four-wheeled, open metal carriage, a small, dark-furred creature aimed a pair of decorated shooters similar in shape to the one she had found at a dispersing cloud of outraged black wings. [i]BLAM[/i]. Another bat fell to the ground to join a dozen other corpses.

“I ain’t nobody’s food!” 

The delectable morsel that was the shooter-toting honeybadger must have been tempting enough for the bats to attempt nabbing her from the illuminated path, but the feisty little creature would not be taken so easily.

Pithy grunted ill-humoredly from her hiding place. She had seen the creature among the contestants, but had honestly hoped dealing with the ridiculous thing would fall to another.

As the bats began to flee from this absurdly dangerous prey, the little honeybadger comically waved her shooters at the retreating swarm with her tiny arms and indignant air.

“Yeah you better run! Flying rats!”

The flying familiar took that moment to peer out of the corner, and quickly ducked back under cover as a shot chipped the wall right in front of it. The sudden crack close to her head made Pithy start, and she drew back into cover, but the sudden motion was not lost on the feisty animal.

The honeybadger laughed. “Don’t think you can hide, girl. I see yo’ skinny ass back there.”

Pressed to her cover, Pithy scowled. This day ([i]night[/i]) had already fallen well outside of the norm, but she could be excused for not expecting it to begin by being pinned behind a wall by an angry weasel with a hat and a pair of six-shooters.