Bradley reached the large glass entrance first, holding the door for both Jason and Zara. Jason led, but he was no more than two feet inside before a squeal sounded and a blur of dark hair, dark makeup, and pale skin hurried in his direction.
"Crysis!" Amy called, holding her arms open for the dog.
"Chopped liver," Jason said, looking back at Zara. "That's all we are when he's around."
"He's cute," Zara pointed out. "I mean, you are too, but you're taken."
"Completely," Jason promised about the time Amy finally looked up.
"Dez just got into the office. Chance is - "
"Right here," Chance finished as he stepped out of his office. "I figured we were either being attacked or you brought your dog." Then he walked over and offered Bradley his hand. "Glad to have you back. Let us know if you need anything." He dipped his head at Jason. "You know your way around, I think." And finally, he turned to Zara. "Welcome to Deviant Games. Sorry we're going to keep Jason busy, but if you get bored, my office is right over here."
"Hands off," Jason told him.
Chance grinned. "Sucks, doesn't it?"
Jason turned and crossed his arms. "The difference is that I'll kill to keep mine. You'd die for yours. Kinda leaves only one of us standing, so how about we don't try it, hm?"
Chance offered his hand. "Good to have you back, even if you are still a pain in my ass. The team's in the warehouse."
"What's off-limits for Zara?" Jason asked.
"Nothing," Chance assured him. "We've got a new lock system, so I'll get all three of you badges. I'd prefer that Zara signs a non-disclosure agreement for what she sees, but Dez told me to shove it."
Jason chuckled. "When did we lose our balls, man?"
"About the time our women decided to play with them," Chance said with a wink. Then he leaned in a bit closer and lowered his voice. "So, when did Zara and Bradley get on good terms?"
"About the time I got some CIs." Jason reached up to slap Chance's arm. "That proved to her that he really is on my side, and, well, I guess my girl's a little overprotective. I'm ok with that, though. Wanna show us what's going on?"
Chance just waved toward the archways behind the receptionist's desk. "It's all in there, and probably a lot louder than you'd expect." Then he looked at Zara. "Crysis can run free in here, too. Soon as he spots Dez, that'll be where he stays."
"I think he picks his favorite by how broken we are," Jason pointed out. "It's what he was trained to do, after all."
"And we have a lot of damage here," Chance agreed, walking toward the developer area. "So, you know about Rhaven getting doxxed. What you may not be aware of is that since we announced her as a lead developer, all of our game forums have been getting hit. Nothing but hate speech. Mostly it's transphobic or sexist, but we've had a few racists or religious-based comments."
"Dez sorting it?" Jason asked.
"Always," Chance promised. "We have a server dedicated to tracking this stuff." Then they crossed into the warehouse.
Zara's feet paused as she took it in. The building had been renovated a lot over the years. Once, this had been all there was. The glass lobby had been built before the release of Deviant's first game, Silk. Then it had been destroyed with an assault of paintballs. Chance made the second version even more impressive. When Eternal Combat had released, they'd added on an entire wing for the office workers, expanded the parking lot to curve around the side of the building, and made it look almost like a respectable company.
But this? The actual warehouse? It was almost the same as the first time Jason had come. The desks had been moved around. The loft apartment had new people living in it - since Dez and Chance now had a house out back. Still, the people working inside were all in some form of disarray, dressed like they were working from home, and cursing like they were at a gamer convention.
Then, "Pantomime!" The husky voice of a woman was pitched to carry, and it made Zara look up.
"Rhaven!" she said, hurrying over to hug her friend. "Hey! My god, you look great!"
Jason had to agree. Rhaven had on a pair of jeans that were just a bit too tight, boots that made her stand well over six feet tall, and her