"I hate the rules getting changed on me."

"Same."

"If it can change the rules at a whim, we do need to know - it's possibly worked around then, but that'd require having an idea of its psychology."

"...That's assuming we can comprehend it."

"I'd assume if it can model us we can likely model it, but that might not be true, yes."

Jenn hums neutrally.

Silence falls.

Trudge trudge trudge.

The area around them starts getting unstable, more buildings heavily damaged enough that their roofs have collapsed, or gates are leaning, and there's more debris buried beneath the mud.

Jenn gets more cautious as the buildings are more damaged, back to watching Bina carefully - although subtly.

She's not happy, but she isn't struggling too much, either.

Okay, that's something. How much further do they even have to go? They have to be running out of time before the naughts show up.

A few minutes and another bend later: "Hey, I recognize those! I think we're close," Bina says, pointing to two smokestacks, one of which has lettering on it. "None of the other smokestacks had words."

Jenn nods. "Alright, it's... probably going to get more dangerous here. I don't know what kind of defences there'll be."

"Assuming Ira doesn't have allies? Hopefully none."

"She didn't particularly seem the ally making type."

"It doesn't seem likely the botfly's independently ensnared anyone else, too."

"It does seem...at least somewhat constrained in terms of location."

"Exactly. That people were having to be actively brought to it is a major indicator."

"Hm. The fact that people have been brought to it might give it foot soldiers. How good are you with that gun?"

"I'm not going to be doing any impressive tricks, but I can consistently hit a stationary fifteen centimeter target at twenty five meters, given time to aim. Moving targets - better at ten meters or less. The majority of my training has been within seven meters, though."

She hums. "It'll have to be good enough."

"I'll probably want to lean for closer, too, there's low visibility and I suspect I won't get too many attempts."

"We aim for stealth. If we don't have to fight it's better."

"Not arguing that." No matter how much she likes the 'winning a shootout with the bad guy' fantasy, she can acknowledge reality.

Jenn nods. "Okay. I think we should stay quiet from here on out."

Thumbs up.