The diner booth feels like a holding cell under fluorescent light. Coach Sun spreads the venue packet flat, but his eyes keep flicking to the dark gym entrance across the street. Regina arrives to train, only to find the doors shut and a security guard planted there like a verdict.
Security Guard
Private reservation. No access tonight.
Regina King
So my training gets boxed out by a locked door?
Security Guard
That is what I was told.
The Referee
They are making the clock work for them.
Leo’s jaw tightens. Coach Sun taps the packet with two fingers, calm but irritated, while The Basement Coat Stranger watches Regina like he is measuring how much pressure she can take before she bends.
Coach Sun
They are not just denying a room. They are controlling your prep.
The Basement Coat Stranger
A champion still needs a place to sharpen.
Regina looks past the booth, past the guard, straight at the lit calendar taped inside the gym window. The date for her pro debut sits there like bait, and the route to it is already narrowing.
Leo
If they can block the gym, they can squeeze the debut too.
For the first time, the problem is plain. The underground circuit is not just watching her rise, it is trying to decide when, where, and under whose terms she gets to step into the pro ring.
✓ Quest Accepted
Intimidate the guard into opening the gym doors
“I grab the gaurd vy his collar and lift him iff the ground, demanding he open the doors”
SUCCESS (Superb Strength, rolled -1)
Regina moves before anyone at the booth can stop her. She crosses the sidewalk in two hard strides, catches the guard by the collar, and jerks him clean off his feet.
The guard’s shoulders hit the air, his heels kicking once above the wet pavement. Regina holds him there, unshaken, while rain glints off the closed gym doors behind him.
Regina King
Open the doors.
Security Guard
I do not have that authority.
From the diner window, The Referee pushes up from the booth and stares at the scene like it just confirmed his worst suspicion. Coach Sun’s mouth tightens; he does not reach for the packet, only watches the guard.
The Basement Coat Stranger
Then someone else is paying to keep her out.
The guard swallows and glances toward the dark office above the gym entrance, where a single light burns behind frosted glass. The answer is not on the door, it is upstairs.
“"Fine, ill do it myself" she drops the gaurd and walks over to the doors, gripping them tightly and forcing them open.”
SUCCESS (Superb Strength, rolled +1)
Regina lets the guard drop, and he lands hard enough to knock the breath out of him. She turns from his slack grip and strides to the gym doors, rain darkening the knuckles of her gloves.
Her hands close on the handles. The metal shudders once, then gives, the lock popping loose with a sharp crack.
The doors swing inward. Warm light spills out over the wet pavement, and the hush inside the gym breaks into startled movement.
Security Guard
That was not supposed to happen.
The Referee
There it is. Somebody paid to keep her out.
Coach Sun
No more games. Show me who is running this.
The Basement Coat Stranger
Good. Now we know the door was never the point.
The guard stays on the pavement, stunned and powerless, while Regina stands in the open threshold with the gym beyond her. All eyes shift toward the upstairs office light.
Quest Complete
Intimidate the guard into opening the gym doors
Attribute Upgrade: Strength Superb→Legendary