Chapter 2 - "Training"

"Let me get this straight..." the new mayor of Noemann Land was pacing in her office enthralled with frustration, "You had it in your sights and you didn't take it down!" The mercenary team was standing there like students who had gotten in trouble and were being reprimanded by the principal. Gwen was looking at her feet, not wanting to look at the new mayor out of fear that she could read her and find other things that they had done wrong, which recently had been increasing. The only team member that was unafraid of this tyrannical mayor was Hertz. "Well see here Ma'am, we weren't exactly frolicking out there." Hertz raised his voice and inched closer to the mayor to show her he was not scared and that she could not reprimand him. The mayor gave Hertz a look over. "Well then I guess we should instill greater training into you..." the mayor said training as if it were a threat. The mayor made a head motion to the guards in the back of the room. The mayor had hired bunch of mercenaries and bandits when she came to office, but she kept the bandits in the positions close to her, which anyone could tell you that the loyalty of a bandit should be relied on as much as pathological liar. The guard in the back was a huge bandit, this bandit was easy to distinguish because of his tattoos and his stench. The guard signaled to others in the room and as quickly as the conversation had went, it was over with and the guards had escorted the team out. Gwen felt uneasy about this, they had confiscated their weapons prior to coming in and the way that the guards were looking did not bode well for getting them back. Gwen tried to make eye contact with the others but none of them were near her, there was at least three guards on both sides of her. Gwen knew that this was not going to go well and the "training" that the mayor had talked about would be like a punishment.

SMACK! One of the guards had suddenly threw Gwen into the wall of the building outside of the mayor's office. Holding Gwen's head smashed against the wall, the guard spat on her face. This sudden attack had taken her off guard but now she was pissed off enough to off the guard herself. Gwen heard a whimper come from behind her as Sandy was put into the same position as Gwen was. The guard holding Gwen was looking at his compatriots and Gwen took this moment. CHOMP! Gwen sunk her teeth into the guards hand. The guard was so surprised he let go of her and starting holding his bitten hand. Gwen swung at his head with all her might, the guard toppled over like a house of cards. Hertz had taken the moment when Gwen's opponent had yelped to take out the guards on him. THUD! Hertz head butted the guard on his right, stole that guard's gun and swung the butt of the gun upwards into the other guard's nose.

"Stop! Put them up!" one of the guards yelled at the team. All the guards had by then pointed their guns at the team ready to shoot if the team decided to fight it out. There were too many of the guards and they had the team surrounded. Sandy had gotten loose in the confusion but Billy who was knocked out on the ground had no such luck. Sandy and Gwen glanced at each other, knowing full well that neither of them had any hand-to-gun training, well at least when they were the hand part. Hertz was on a different strain of thought all together. "Your gonna shoot us? We are more valuable then your asses since we can actually shoot straight, why do you think we are out their in the midst of the chaos instead of sitting in the air conditioned lobby like you." Hertz spat at the guards. This must of struck a nerve because one of the guards, presumably the leader, shouldered his gun and advanced toward Hertz. The guard stepped over Billy who was still on the ground. "Now!" Hertz yelled. Billy shot up and stole the guard's gun. "Good work kid," Hertz walked over to the now unarmed guard, "Now we will be leaving without anymore fuss, and if you wouldn't mind retrieving our guns." Bandits treasured their life and well being more then anything and right now life was more important then the salary they were getting from the mayor. The lead guard motioned to his men. At first they did not move, since none of their lives were in immediate danger so their well being was more important. "Don't just stand there!" the leader yelled at them. The guards must have thought that was a good idea because they started shooting at the team and the ex-leader.

"Run!" Hertz yelled at his team. Sandy and Gwen bucked it to the nearest cover. Billy had turned ran, but not toward shelter but towards the guards. Hertz saw this and had to run back and hoist Billy over his shoulder and run back to cover. The guards still had their guns and in Noemann's Land weapons were as valuable as water. The ex-leader of the guards had also ran with the team to cover and was then standing with them as if he was apart of it. Once Hertz put Billy down, Hertz took the gun from Billy and turned around and shoved the barrel of the gun under the ex-leader's face. "Where are our guns?" Hertz yelled at the leader. As shots rained down upon the team in their cover, Hertz looked more concerned with the ex-leader. "Okay, okay, just keep your hair on. I'll tell'ya if you let me come with." Hertz lowered his weapon. "That's a reasonable request." The ex-leader looked relieved, "We loaded them into our ride while you were busy." Hertz turned his head slightly, still keeping the bandit in his peripheral view. The ride the bandit was talking about was out in the open but still closer to the team then the guards who were pursuing them. "Okay, lets go." BANG! Hertz suddenly shot the ex-leader.

"Remind me to never trust you." Sandy said as she watched the dead bandit drop to the ground. Hertz stepped over the dead body and tried to get a look at the advancing guards. "We can make it to our new ride easy enough. Okay on my mark we will run..." buzzzzzzz. A long droning noise interrupted Hertz. The fire raining down upon the team stopped. Gwen looked up towards the sky. "Get to the ride!" Hertz yelled as he got up and started running. Above were three grossly enlarged flies. Gwen knew that with no weapons they would be fly bait. The team ran to the ride. Sandy jumped into the drivers seat and started up the engine. Billy and Gwen jumped in the back. Sandy started driving away as Hertz jumped into the gunnery seat. "Back to camp?" Sandy asked as she drove away from the guards and the giant flies. The guards had started shooting at the flies which had the effect of busying each other. "No we still have a job to do and if we want to ever get off this rock alive and well paid we need to continue doing what we were hired for."