"I don't see them, Heavy." stated Officer.
In the ruins of their base in Foundry, Officer and Heavy were searching for their team-mates, the former wearing his infra-red goggles, the later with Pyrovision Goggles. It was a week since they should have fought there, but none of the mercenaries who had declined on going on the hunting expedition were around. The entire RED base was a mess - it looked like it had been hit by artillery. When the two got into the Engineer's workshop, which was by far the strongest and most secure room in the entire base and had shock absorbers, they found a note from Engineer hurriedly written and crammed into the top draw of his desk.
If the hunting expedition finds this note, get out of the base, as quickly as you can. They want us all dead. Do not come looking for us, or they'll start individual executions, but they want us all first.
"Lets get out of here." mumbled Heavy.
Turning around, Officer and Heavy found Engineer had scrawled HIGGINS CO. on the back of his workshop door. They noted the name, and went through the rumble strewn corridor to the outside. Halfway down, Officer shoved Heavy behind some debris and made himself as small as possible next to the Russian, which the Falkland Centaur found slightly difficult. Two men with a torch were coming from the other direction, obviously looking for the two men and from Higgins Co., saying that the RED mercenaries should be somewhere in the base, but were doing a poor job of it, walking straight past Heavy and Officer.
Heavy and Officer got up again when the two other men had disappeared, and made for the main exit, where Soldier, Lumberjack, and Sniper had been left as a precaution against their base collapsing on them all, although none of them had seen the men from Higgins Co. enter the base. Officer filled the rest of the hunting expedition about what he had Heavy had found in the base.
Sniper suggested that they went to the main offices of Higgins Co., and rescue their fellow RED mercenaries, despite Engineer's note, and should pose as a band of travelling actors, arguing that it would result in fewer questions being asked about Officer. The others agreed with Sniper's logic, so they prepared themselves to look the part after taking care of Higgen Co.'s agents. Lumberjack made his large ginger beard look more unkept, Heavy made enough sandviches for his colleagues, Soldier equipped his Concheror but the horn was replaced with a camera and the flag, adjusted by Sniper, had Reasonable Theatricals written on it, while Officer borrowed one of Soldier's severed Medic heads which was strapped on Officer's back by Lumberjack, barely noticeable beneath Officer's hair. Just before they started on their way to Higgins Co., Lumberjack suggested that they should do some reconnaissance, being that no-one knew anything about the company. Soldier and Officer seconded that.
It was decided that they should speak to the Pepsi DiCola that Gangster had mentioned, and enroll the help of the Mafia. Officer and Sniper went to search Gangster's quarters for any information on Pepsi, while the rest went to Miss Pauling's office, as she moved with the mercenaries and had a computer network on each map. Both groups had a two-way radio so they could communicate. Officer and Sniper had almost arrived at Gangster's quarters when Lumberjack asked them to get to Miss Pauling's Office as quickly as possible, and to pick up a few medikits on the way.
Sniper picked up a few medikits on the way out of their base, and Officer offered Sniper a ride on his back so they could get to Lumberjack's group quicker. Sniper accepted, as nobody else had been offered this, and he agreed with Officer's point about speed. About five minutes later, Officer and Sniper arrived at Miss Pauling's office, where Lumberjack, Soldier and Heavy were clustered around Miss Pauling.
"Have you got those medikits?" asked Lumberjack.
"Yes." said Sniper, handing them over.
"We found Miss Pauling in her kitchenette, badly wounded and slightly crazed. We've managed to stabilise her, but we needed those medikits."
Lumberjack started applying the medikit on Miss Pauling's wounds. Soon, she had recovered, and revealed that, despite the agents of Higgins Co. taking and destroying most of her information, they had passed over the back-up. However, she refused to tell the mercenaries the location of the back-up unless Officer gave her a ride on his back. Sighing, Officer reluctantly allowed her to. Miss Pauling told the other mercenaries where the back-up was located as she left the room.
Officer galloped around Foundry, with Miss Pauling on his back. She was enjoying herself, as it was evening, and it was her favourite time of day. Officer followed Miss Pauling commands as to where to go. Meanwhile, Lumberjack and the others were looking through the back-up files. Skipping past most of Gangster's information, they found that Pepsi DiCola lived in the vicinity of Well, meaning that the mercenaries would have to get the next train there. When Officer and Miss Pauling returned, Lumberjack was waiting in Miss Pauling's office for them.
"The others are at the train station. The next train leaves in fifteen minutes, so we had better get going."
A/N Please review this. I'm not getting very many reviews, so any would be appreciated.
