"Right, Paris, there we go."
Mundy's train was braking and the sound of the friction from the metallic wheels was deafening. After his contracts as a sniper and hunter ended, he felt quite bored of his nonetheless beloved australian Outback. His family had advised him to go tour the world. He had started going through Asia and had been in Europe for quite some time now. He had seen a good part of Eastern and Central Europe and now was the time to visit France.
"Veuillez attendre l'arrêt complet du train. Quand vous descendez, faites attention à la bordure du quai."
[Please wait until the train is completely stopped before coming off. When you step off, watch your step for the platform.]
The whistling of the brakes finally ended. Mundy took his suitcase and got off. He looked around him.
"Oh bugger..."
The train station was a chaotic anthill. People were pouring out of trains and pouring in others, rushing in and out of the station. Mundy held his hat on his head and followed the wave of people out of the station. Before he exited the station, he found a desk where he asked some directions to the room he had booked. His French was very limited but in spite of it, he nonetheless managed to be understood. He scribbled some notes to remember them and started walking. The room he had rented was within walking distance from the station. It was not a hotel room but a rental that would be a bit less costly. He had intended to stay in Paris quite a bit of time, to see if living in such a big city could bring the change of scenery he was looking for.
The sky was blue with only a couple clouds. It was the beginning of May and the grey tones of winter were now only a vague souvenir for the Parisians. Mundy looked around him. People were dressed very differently from each other. But as he walked through a rather wealthy neighbourhood, the diversity in clothing dramatically plummeted to leave only men in suits and ladies in fashionable dresses and matching hats. The architecture of the buildings around him was very different from what he had seen so far. The buildings were not very tall yet had a very distinctive presence. The light beige color of the bricks shined particularly brighly with the nice weather. They looked very geometrical, almost as if the only tools used to design them were a ruler and a set square. The windows were rectagular and longer than wide. They reflected the sun in Mundy's eyes as he walked past them. Naturally, he was wearing his aviator glasses so he was not bothered at all.
He cut through and arrived to a less wealthy neighbourhood. His room was nonetheless in a modern, good looking building which in fact sat at the frontier with the wealthy part of town. The building must have been quite new as the white paint on the walls and front fence were still shining as if brand new.
His room was on the third floor. He was sharing the kitchen with a couple of French people around his age. They were the ones advertising for the room. When Mundy opened the door, none of them were in which was expected as they were both working. They also said that Mundy would find a letter on the living-room's table. He first proceeded to visit the flat quickly to find his room and put his suitcase down. He went back to the kitchen to read the letter. It was written in near perfect English and contained warm welcoming words as well as some information about the flat and the neighbourhood. Mundy read it carefully and put it in his bedroom.
He started unpacking his suitcase and filling his wardrobe. Well, filling is far from an exact term, he rather put a couple of shirts and trousers, some underwear and socks as well. He liked to travel lightly. He looked around him. The desk had only a couple of pens and a notepad on it. The nightstand next to the bed only had a lamp on it. Mundy took the framed picture that was in the suitcase and put it there. It showed his parents back in Australia. He smiled and took a deep breath.
I'm getting hungry... Let's go out and see what food I can get in this neighbourhood. And after that, let's hunt for a job.
Mundy left and started walking in the streets again, looking for something to eat. He could not help thinking about what his family had said while discussing his trip. "You should try to see your colleagues from your days in Mann Co., no doubt they'll be happy to see you." And he did! In Moscow he stopped to see Mikhail, the Heavy weapons guy specialist, now boxing trainer for kids. In Berlin he saw Ludwig, still a doctor but in a research centre. He intended to go and see Tavish, the Demo in Scotland and moving to the US, he was sure to find Dell in Texas, Jeremy in Boston and Jane in a military training camp near Washington.
For now, he was in Paris. He could meet Lucien, the Spy. The only issue is that he was the only one not leaving an address before leaving Mann Co. So God only knew where he was living and if he was in France or not somewhere else, spying and backstabbing...
Well, it's fine. I guess in this buzzin' city, I will never manage to meet him again. If I started lookin' for him, it'd be like lookin' for a needle in a haystack... A masked needle in a haystack, disguised as a straw of hay, and backstabbin' other straws of hay... Bah...
He stopped walking and took a deep breath.
It smells incredibly good!
He looked around and saw a bakery at the end of the street.
Let's get some'in there.
He ordered a sandwich and a coffee with a croissant. He sat at the terrace and had his meal. He was surprised by the quality of the bread. He was used to the British kind of loaf but this baguette sandwich was truly something else, much tastier and more filling. The croissant was amazing as well. Under the golden crust, a sweet cloud of butter melted on Mundy's tongue.
Well, that's not a stereotype, the French really know how to make delicious food. Even a sandwich is something else with them!
He stayed there for a while, watching people come and go while sipping his coffee. A man in a dark blue suit passed by and reminded Mundy of Lucien again. He smiled without realising it.
I guess it'd be very awkward if we met at a café... The secret spook and the silent sniper... Not saying anything to each other... One smoking his cigarette and the other drinking coffee...
He sighed, still smiling and put his hat back on.
Now, to find a job...
He had been very decently paid while he was in Mann Co. but he nonetheless wanted to keep his days busy. As he had been a hunter of wild animals, zoology was his only expertise, along with killing people from far away some would say. He had hoped that he could work for the Zoo de Vincennes but he first needed to see the place.
Alright, let's have a look at this zoo...
After asking for directions and taking a bus and a metro, he was finally standing at the zoo gates.
Right, let's have a look.
The zoo was organised in zones. Each zone was a different kind of climate, or a differerent family of animals. Mundy was most familiar with marsupials, crocodiles and birds of prey. He headed in direction of the birds' zone. The zoo had a large collection of birds among wich parrots, budgies, colorful species of them but also eagles and vultures. A zookeeper, surrounded by a herd of people, happened to be giving a tour and stopped in front of the birds of prey. Mundy blended in the group to listen to the explaination. He was lucky the group of people seemed to be tourists so the zookeeper was speaking English.
"And here are our birds of prey. As you can see, we keep each species separated from the others. On you right, the very classical bald eagles, symbol of the United States of America! This is your emblematic bird of prey, you're American right?"
The small crows nodded heads and followed the guide while taking more pictures of the bald eagles than they could ask for.
"Now we move on to falcons, can anyone recognise this one?"
The herd of American tourists went silent.
"Those are peregrine falcons."
The crowd turned to Mundy.
"Indeed! Now, do you know where they live?"
Mundy took his hat off his head.
"On all continents but especially Australia."
"Yes, indeed! Now, the gentleman here seems to know a lot. Do you know their number one cause of death? Let me help you with a clue: you will never guess it."
Mundy adjusted his glasses and smirked.
"These beaut's can dive and fly at the incredible speed of up to 390 kilometres an hour which make them the fastest diving birds on Earth. They hunt and live in solitude. Their preys are mostly smaller birds or sometimes small mammals. They can easily be trained for hunting purposes. Oh and I forgot to mention, they don't have nests like other species, they like to live in small caves on cliffs, more rarely on high enough trees."
The zookeeper's jaw dropped, as it did for the American tourists.
Mundy smiled and put his hat back on. He turned on his heels and started walking to the next enclosure.
"Wait, sir! Can wa have a chat?"
Mundy froze.
-- Author's notes --
Thank you for reading :) Please let me know what you think about this first chapter in the comments!
You can also check my other fic "The Merc's Lives", 50 chapters dealing with all our beloved team of mercenaries! (It's Medic/Heavy, Sniper/Spy mainly but it deals with all the mercs :))
Cheers!