A/N: please be advised before reading this. I used to counsel inmates in prison, and heard both inspiring stories of redemption as well as the shocking reality of those who liked the way they were. This story is an attempt to explore some of what I witnessed (through the medium of Warcraft) as well as come to terms with some things I saw.

Please understand, readers: I do not enjoy the characters here. I am not getting some sort of excitement out of writing what evil people do; this is only an attempt to cope with some of the worse stuff I learned of. Nothing more.

This warning will be repeated at the beginning of each of the four chapters. This is a lead in to the much, much lighter 'Before Summer's End.' If this story is difficult to read, then you will learn its resolution in that story and I won't be offended if anybody reads that without reading this.

You've been warned...continue at your own peril.

The fire burned brightly that night in Talador. Mei Guo wasn't used to camping and certainly didn't enjoy it, but all things considered, the guys had done a bang up job.

They'd taken painstaking care setting up the little circle of stones, placing the tinder carefully. None of them had tents, but they didn't need any given the temperate climate of the region; their sleeping bags were enough. All had been placed a good distance away from the site of the original camp, without risk of catching fire. Aside from not having any mounts, their foray into the wilderness had been rather comfy.

One would almost think the scene were a pleasant one...were it not for the murdered couple and and old man whose corpses the group had unceremoniously dumped on the riverside after taking over the camp.

The two mercenaries Mei Guo and his comrades hired - orcs from Azeroth - took time counting the spoils from the group's most recent exploits. Wrecking Ball and 'The Hulk' they called themselves. Both were sort of youngish looking, and hadn't been with the group long enough to share their stories. Given their age, neither of them may have much to tell. Both of them donned the makeshift leather armor and twin blades common of mercenaries who hadn't picked a class, accepted low pay and would go on any mission. One might call them rogues, like Mei Guo himself, were they not so lacking in the stealth department. Or assassination skills. Or a comprehension of poisons and toxins. Or...

Bah, Mei Guo thought. The pair had joined them on the understanding that they would take a cut of all spoils earned and wouldn't receive payment up from. Two extra pairs of hands without a down payment...fair trade.

Now, next to them...there was a guy one could rely on. The third Orc in the group was as young as the others, but had grown up in a life of crime. He had only one ear, and merely went by the nickname 'One Ear Guy.' No names. Mei Guo respected that. The guy hadn't even hesitated when stabbing the old man in the back repeatedly for trying to protect the two newly weds at the camp. Ruthless, unfeeling and mean, One Ear Guy had been a most profitable companion.

Across from them all was the only human in the group - Earl Goldthwaite, the blasphemous priest. He spoke fluent Orcish, and seeing as how Mei Guo spoke Orcish and Common both, he always had clever ways of concealing information from potential marks; most people on Azeroth only spoke one or the other, if at all, except for merchants. And they could usually just be tricked by someone as slimy as Earl. They say there's no honor among thieves. Well, Earl was the type of guy to write a bomb threat to an orphanage just so he could steal their inheritance money after sneaking inside. A man like that was pure gold in their profession.

Mei Guo shifted in his leathers as he drank another beer. He usually wore armor that left his midriff exposed; as possibly the only pandaren on all of Azeroth who had abs, he didn't feel like hiding his hard work. It took him quite a bit of running and self starvation to slim down so much, and when they weren't simply taking what they wanted, he preferred to relax by luring bar girls into whichever inn room he had rented without force. It made assaulting and robbing them - even of their clothing - all the more rewarding in terms of his reputation in the field.

Wrecking Ball turned to the others, nodding to Mei Guo in a search for approval. Granting it, he leaned forward, interested in what he new guys had to say. It could always be an opportunity for more work.

"We were talking, and neither of us can decide who to go after next," the brighter of the two new guys said. "Both me and the Hulk here got s few people to settle scores with since we snuck through the Dark Portal, but none of them are serious."

"So what do you guys think?" The Hulk asked. "If you could take revenge on any one person - kill their family, burn down their house, turn their friends on them - who would it be?"

Dark laughter arose from the party of five. Although it was really time to prepare their food, all of them could get into a conversation like this. Not only was boasting a chance to feel out the hierarchy in the group, but it also gave Mei Guo the opportunity to learn about the mentality of his band of bandits.

Comfortable silence fell after the laughter as they all took turns congenially offering to let the others start. Earl, usually as patient as the others, jumped in.

"I know my biggest vendetta all too well...and I have reason to believe, through old contacts with the Venture Company, that she's here on Draenor working with Steamwheedle now," the lecher started.

"Sounds like the possibility for revenge," Wrecking Ball said evilly.

"One would only hope." Earl's Orcish was fluent, and he had zero discomfort working alongside former members of the Horde. The only banner he believed in was one lined with gold - so he could steal it.

"Her name is Cecilia Hearthglen, some drugged out elf whore at Booty Bay."

"The best kind," commented the Hulk.

"She thought she was going to go straight, so she ended up with some of our operation's working girls. We had them everywhere: the younger ones would be working the bars and the night clubs on the south and east side, while those who were a little older or who had obvious health problems would be put to work cleaning houses and serving tea and shit."

"They served shit?" Wrecking Ball asked with mock incredulity.

"Well, hey, I don't know what all the clients were into. As long as they paid!" Another round of laughter arose from Earl's joke. "On a serious note, the girls she was staying with owed my boss, Gruesome, some money. Grue was a real low down scumbag like the rest of us, but he took money issues seriously: he always paid on time and for that, he had our loyalty."

"Here here," Mei Guo said.

"They were behind on keeping up with their debt payments, so we found a way to shift some labor. They had this fine Draenei bitch with them, the type that always had that arch to her back like a pole dancer no matter what she tried to do about it."

The Hulk hummed his approval, garnering another hearty group laugh.

"So old Grue arranged for her to work as an actual pole dancer to balance the girls' accounts!" Earl burst out to the applause of the others. "He even promised to let me break her in first, until the ladies all made a run for it. The old lady that kept watch on them, she was former SI:7 and took out one of our boys in the process."

"So where does the elf fit in?" Mei Guo asked.

"That's where the bad ending comes in. Me and Grue, we used to run things with two other guys - an Orc and a night elf. We never used names. A couple of years later, fucking Hearthglen shows up with a group of her friends all decked out in Steamwheedle armor and corners us in an alleyway. They catch my Orc friend with a knife in the back. The night elf, I guess it was some sort of vendetta among their own mind, she mauls him to death with her nasty long fingernails."

"I'm guessing they got your boss, too?" One Ear Guy asked.

Earl nodded, closing his eyes in anger. "Hearthglen gutted him and hung him from a fire escape by his own intestines. I managed to run away, but I'll never forget how she screwed up a perfectly good racketeering ring."

The Hulk looked confused at the term 'fire escape.' Indeed, such fixtures on buildings were a relatively recent development and only available in large cities. Ignoring the confused look, Earl finished his story.

"If I ever find her here, she's getting a knife in the back of the neck."

"I'll drink to that!" Wrecking Ball added with a nod and a sip from his beer.

Everyone grew quiet again, and One Ear Guy started his own story.

"Mine's more local, you could say. I used to hang around Thunder Pass with a few buddies of mine, doing odd jobs for a local guy running illegal moonshine. We used to go to the local tavern in the evenings to shoot the shit, blow off some steam, see what local tail was showing up."

"Right."

"So one night, we see this pretty little thing, probably underage but that just means they're more likely to want it, you know? And she's drinking way too much for someone her size and she's talking and laughing too loud. Like she wants to draw attention to herself, you know?"

"Sounds like the type to later claim she didn't want it," the Hulk grumbled.

"That means they do!" added Earl, to the agreement of the others.

"Well, at first she hooks up with this fucking mental case that used to hang around town, Khujand. That's the asshole's name. People either laughed at him for being so weird or just ignored him, but for whatever reason that little tart gave him a pity dance. He ends up dragging her outside between these two buildings, and she comes running out after a few minutes - guess she wasn't in to the freak show."

"So she comes running to you and your friends, I'm guessing?" Mei Guo suggested.

"Exactly. We take her down on the entry ramp leading in to town, try to let her showier gratitude. And that God damn freak show followed us there! Comes at us in the dark before we see him coming and runs us out of town before we have a chance to fight back. My two friends died out in the cold that night. I'm keeping eyes and ears out in the Horde garrisons now, trying to see if he ever wanders out of Thunder Pass."

"He does, he's dead meat!" The Hulk said with a fist pounded into his palm. These young ones had quite a bit of enthusiasm.

All eyes were on Mei Guo, waiting for the boss's story. He wouldn't disappoint.

"Well, my biggest vendetta ended recently...it was my brother."

Wrecking Ball's eyes widened. "Damn!"

"Nice!" Earl beamed.

"Yeah, a real goody two shoes he was. Tried to make a living helping sick travelers for free and bullshit like that. What's worse, our village bought into his little act."

One Ear Guy shook his head in disgust. Really, who wouldn't be sickened by some asshole pretending to be some sort of hero?

"What did youngest up doing?" The Hulk asked.

"I poisoned him," Mei Guo answered. Him and our entire annoying family."

"That's a winner right there!" Earl cheered.

"Yep. A concoction I invented myself - I even keep a little here in case we need it for a mark. You just slip it in their food or drink, and they feel tired and nauseous at the same time. Like they just want to lie down and go to sleep. I took our family gold stash along with these stupid little trinkets he had bought for his kids the next time they would visit. Used that money to get me here on Draenor - no short of moronic do goodread out here thinking they're making a difference and letting their guard down."

"It sounds like you don't have a vendetta for the time being," Wrecking Ball stated while stroking his chin with a finger thoughtfully.

Before anybody could speak, Mei Guo saw something up the road and gave the hand signal for silence.

Far off in the distance, three figures approached. It appeared to be another married couple, and this time they had a mount with them. The entire group acted cool and left their boss, whose eyesight was legendary among other highway robbers, to inspect the potential marks while Wrecking Ball pushed the three corpses the rest of the way into the river.

From what he could tell, it was a worgen couple and their talbuk. The mount was carrying some crates of supplies, and the husband who led it by the reins wore the heavy plate armor of an Alliance infantryman. The wife - he assumed they were married - wore the apron of a field medic, and walked behind he husband demurely.

Smelling the gold on them from half a mile away, Mei Guo turned back to the others with determination in his eyes.

"Maybe I just found one," he sneered.