The Challenge

Seventieth floor and then further up with another elevator. The group walked through the garage hall with silver between them. Deco's thoughts were focused on the target and the group of guards in front of the elevator door he had only reflexively observed, appreciated and continued to monitor, without actually devoting a thought to them. It all happened on a routine while the thoughts played around what scenarios they might need to be prepared for when they reached the top of the spire. Without really reflecting, he made a confident comment to the others in the group that they would not kill anyone who was not Beastmen, a statement that he himself was surprised when he thought about it.
And then all of a sudden he was face to face with the one who seemed to be the leader of the gang. The man looked unthreatening and his gang, albeit armed, Deco dismissed as a real threat. A rage went through his body, as if the last thought had gone a strange and unnatural path, as if the phenomenon of dismissing any threat was new at all. The group's security and backing was so strong and the thoughts at the end of the trip so pressing that Deco ignored his warning bells and instead met the man's gaze. Assured of Hatchet's powerful figure, Ratman's combat experience and tactical thinking, Dai-Kau's lethal efficiency and Loric's quick trigger finger, he did not doubt his group for a second. This was a trial, an insult to him and the group. The men standing in front of them thought they were more powerful and more entitled to the means of transport than they were.
The anger shifted and changed to a loud warning alarm on all frequencies but it was too late now, Deco and his opponents had locked their horns in each other and this could not end with him giving up. They would learn what it meant to stand in the way of "the Birds of Prey".