You knew those were a criminal and a policewoman and it usually should be obvious who to trust, but after seeing this Olive immediately pull out a gun, something compelled you to help this girl. She technically never harmed you. That's enough for a justification, right?
In a rather feeble attempt to stop her you grabbed the officer from behind. It didn't achieve much, but it distracted her long enough for the criminal to close the distance holding out her own shotgun. Just when you thought you made a grave mistake, she turned the gun around grabbing its muzzle and swung it against the cop’s head like a club, knocking her out cold and you to the ground.
The girl stood over you imposingly with a big grin on her face. She quickly grabbed your hand and pulled you away from the crime scene. A few blocks away you finally slowed down.
“Gotta give it to ya, didn't expect you to have the balls to take on Olive.” She finished her sentence with a loud laugh.
“I just didn't want anyone to seriously be injured,” you tried to defend yourself.
This only caused her to laugh even louder. “Oh, you really are new here. That was a Brawler Park weapon. Mascots can't be harmed by Brawler weapons, only stuff from the outside world. Didn't ya get the mascot talk when you came here? Though I shouldn't blame ya, even some of the head honchos don't know everything because they got mascotified too early.”
“You're a mascot, too?”
“Of course, all inhabitants of Brawler Park are mascots, even if it sometimes is hard to tell. Here, feel.” She grabbed your hand again and put it on her breast. You didn't have much experience in that regard, but the breast felt more like it was made of memory foam than human flesh. Not allowed to let go you start kneading it, eliciting a few moans from her. “Ahh~ Mascotification highly increases your pain tolerance and the pleasure you receive. Depending on the type of mascot it also might have an effect on your personality. There are many ways to become a mascot, heck, just spending enough time here will slowly turn you into one. For some reason the numbers are also heavily swayed towards females, but I certainly won't complain.”
“You know surprisingly much about this place.”
“That's because I came here to willingly be turned into a mascot. Never did I enjoy life more. Now come on, I’ll introduce you to the others in the gang. Don't worry, you helped with Olive, so you’ll be good in their books. Currently you can call me Schrot.”
You had already walked a few blocks while talking, so it didn't take much longer until you were back where you first met. But the place was completely deserted. Some broken weapons and strewn clothes, especially red vests, suggested that some fight had happened.
“Oh shoot, someone got them. Looks like the end of the Car Smashers,” Schrot said with about the same amount of grief as when finding out her favorite chocolate bar was sold out. She took off her red vest and threw it into the dirt.
“What happened here?”
Schrot made herself comfortable atop the car wreck. “Guess I have the time now to explain how everything here works. Brawler Park consists of many areas and most of them have some kind of leader at the top, like the principal of Super Hero Academy or the amazon queen, usually whoever's strongest. Jumpstart City isn’t one of those. Officially it's divided into a lawful and a lawless side. Unofficially it's much more. The various gangs of the lawless side are constantly fighting to increase their influence. New gangs pop up every day the same as old ones get forcefully disbanded, to the point I stopped bothering to learn most names. All of that in an effort to take full control over Jumpstart City and become its leader. One of the other gangs probably found the girls and took care of them. The easiest way to get rid of a rival gang is to make it part of your own. Nothing you can do about it.”
Seeing your puzzled expression she elaborated. “Some gangs don't show uniformity simply through clothes. All their members get some adjustments physically and mentally to fit the theme, volunteers or not. Even if I start looking for them now, there's a good chance we won't recognize each other. That's just how it is, get used to it. And before you complain, the police are doing the same. In that regard they're pretty much just the biggest gang in Jumpstart City right now.
Schrot jumped off the car onto her feet. “So, what are ya gonna do now? Will you join a gang or try your luck on your own? You could even try going back to Olive, but I doubt she’ll be happy to see you. No matter what you decide, I won't hold it against ya. Can even show ya the way if you want.”