Later in the city, the Marias finds Sheogorath sitting on a bench among the rubble, whistling away happily. "'Sup?" Sheogorath greeted as he turned his head towards them. Maria Date runs toward Sheogorath and punches him in the face, knocking him onto the ground. "Ow! I should have seen that coming!" Sheogorath cried as he rubbed his forehead. "Belts. Now!" Maria Date said angrily as she held out her hand towards Sheogorath.
He hands her the three belts with the tuning forks still attached before standing up and dusting himself off. "Do they even keep your pants up?" Sheogorath wondered. "What was that for?" Maria Tendinis asked as she put on her belt. "It looked like they were in trouble, so I decided to help. Knowing that you three won't help, especially little miss hothead, I stole your equipment and did it myself. Plus, it looked fun." Sheogorath explained. "Why did you even help in the first place?" Maria Tendinis asked.
"Did I not explain earlier at the park? Sometimes I'm Sheogorath, sometimes I'm a virtuous hero. It just happens." he explained." So where were we going to before we were rudely interrupted?" Sheogorath asked Maria Tendinis as he took off his hat and shakes it. They later resume their trip in Sheogorath's car, waiting in traffic on a road leading to a wide tunnel embedded into a cavern wall. "You said there were levels here. Which one are we going to?" Sheogorath wondered. "We're going to Little Tamriel; Level Four. Our place." Maria Tendinis answered.
"You know, the other Maria… Reed was it? You've been quiet lately." Sheogorath commented. "She's shy." Maria Date answered. "And you can fight, how?" Sheogorath asked Maria Reed. "I fight… alright…" Maria Reed replied quietly. "Does she weigh you two down often?" Sheogorath asked Maria Tendinis and Maria Date.
"When we were active we fought separately most of the time. We had to build her courage enough for her to fight on her own." Maria Tendinis explained. "Remember on our first battle, she got thrashed around by a Stinging Mantis and played her Femur Flute so terribly that it barely even affected the Darkmen other than getting harsh critique!" Maria Date recalled in a mocking voice. "You're embarrassing me in front of dad!" Maria Reed said before the car falls into awkward silence and blank faces. "Did you call me dad?" Sheogorath asked. "Sorry…" Maria Reed said quietly.
For the rest of the wait they stood silent until they reached the tunnel's mouth where they were met by a checkpoint toll with its guard; a young Akaviri man with thick dark green hair wearing appropriate blue guard uniform. "Welcome to Level One East Tunnel, may I see your papers?" the man requested. "Sanjo Hiroshi, is that you?" Maria Tendinis said in surprise at seeing the guard. "Riffs? How are you? What bring you here? Who's the old man?" Hiroshi asked. "Girls, who is this?" Sheogorath asked as he turned to Maria Tendinis.
"This is Sanjo Hiroshi; Syffim Rider Ark. He was active five years ago." Maria Tendinis explained. "You're a superhero working a checkpoint?" Sheogorath wondered in a confused tone. "Yeah. I do some part-time jobs every now and then. So, who are you?" Hiroshi asked Sheogorath in Tamriellic. "Have they told you about a Mad God that plagued their dreams? That's me. I'm just visiting Akavir for a while." Sheogorath explained. "If that's the case, I'm not sure if I should let you in." Hiroshi said with a cautious tone.
"C'mon, we're already here. Why not let us in?" Maria Date persuaded Hiroshi after rolling down her window. "Well, try not to cause any trouble. I already heard about the Trooper operation today." Hiroshi said before raising the boom gate, letting them into the tunnel. They enter the tunnel and the car is shrouded in blue light before emerging on the other side of the tunnel to be met by a city with Imperial architecture. "Nice city. What's it called?" Sheogorath wondered. "Little Cyrodiil. We live here, around this area actually." Maria Date answered.
Later they drive into a small suburban neighbourhood with Imperial and park in a driveway of a house with a large gash on the garage door. "What happened here?" Sheogorath wondered. "I happened." Maria Date said as she took off her seatbelt and left the car. "Nice place you got here. What are your jobs?" Sheogorath asked the Marias as Maria Tendinis opened the front door. "We're a band. We're called the Broken Mind." Maria Date answered.
"Broken Mind? Did that come to you one night and you all thought it sounded cool?" Sheogorath asked mockingly. They enter the house and find a standard living room with wooden floorboards and walls painted white with Akaviri-style couches, a patio door at the end of the room, and a set of stairs next to the door along with a shoe rack. "Do you have like, a secret base in here or something?" Sheogorath wondered as he belly-flopped onto a wide couch. "Take off your shoes!" Maria Date scolded. "Yikes, okay!" Sheogorath said as he took off his black leather shoes and threw them perfectly onto the shoe rack.
"We used to be assisted by the Dragonguard when we were active ten years ago, but we're basically retired after defeating the Neuwrongs. We do take up arms now and then when other Riders need help." Maria Tendinis explained. "So… what's there to do here? Why did I have to come home with you? We could've gone to, like, some club or something." Sheogorath asked. "Remember when I told you about you appearing in our dreams? Can you help with that?" Maria Tendinis requested as she sat on an armchair in front of the patio doors. "You know, there was this one time I sat in an insane dead emperor's mind and made some sucker un-insane said emperor's mind." Sheogorath recalled as he lied on his side with his hand against his cheek.
To be continued…