"So… you four arrived while we were sleeping?" asked the Soldier, yawning and observing the black man in front of him: apparently, while they had all been asleep, a military chopper had landed on the ship, permitting to the other members of the old team to join the others on their peculiar cruise. The Soldier had the possibility to see the Spy and the Pyro looking at the sea, both of them with a cup filled with something in their hands, probably coffee. He had just waved at them and walked straight towards to the kitchen of the ship. While on the way, he had also the vision of the touching reunion of the Heavy and the Medic, hugging each other in tears. Well, after all they were extremely close, both during their fight as well as in calm situations. But tears weren't manly at all.

And now, he had finally managed to reach the kitchen, where he was welcomed by the sight of his old pal Demoman, sitting on a table with a grumpy expression on his face, as a couple of kids were arguing at his side, and a blonde woman with a tired face who was trying to set apart the kids. So, the Soldier opted for his secured and patented method to deal with children: he sat right in front of the Demoman, ignoring everyone else, and talked only to him.

"Aye. A couple of hours of flight, or something more. We had to fly all the way over England, you know." Commented the scotsman, sighing and drinking a little bit of the coffee in front of him. "And after that, we received a confused explanation about where we are going, and a bunch of other stuff." Grunted the Demoman. "And I'm still tired as well."

"Come on man. Maybe you should drink some scrumpy, instead that some fancy coffee."

"I quit drinking heavy stuff after my marriage."

"…Who are you, and what did you do to Demoman?" asked Soldier, raising an eyebrow. Douglas laughed, receiving a glare from his wife.

"A friend of yours, Doug?" she asked coldly, moving away her eyes from her husband and studying the Soldier's face. The Demoman paled a little, before clearing his throat.

" Sure hon'. This is the Soldier." Muttered the man. "Sol, this is Sue, my wife."

"So, this is the weapon-maniac American guy?" she asked coldly. Evidently, Don took it as a compliment, puffing his chest out.

"Sure am lady. And you are the Demoman's chick?"

-oOo-

"How did you get that black eye?" asked the Spy, looking at the grumpy face of the Soldier, where a violet eye was clearly evident.

"He had a little discussion with my wife." Whispered the Demoman. The Medic shivered on his seat, still remembering his experience with the woman.

"Now now gals, no time to chit chat about that." stated the captain, turning to the nine ex-mercenaries. They were all gathered inside the captain's cabin, waiting to hear what the old man wanted to say. "I received further instruction. as soon as we dock, there will be a van to take you all to the town's boutique."

"Boutique? What?!"

"I don't know for what. I imagine that the Undertaker will send all of you the last of your gear. And maybe a uniform or something. I don't know." Grunted the old man, scratching his head.

"Yo, got a question here!" called Billy, raising a hand from his chair. "What 'bout my girl? And Heavy's and Demo's family."

"That's actually a good question lad." Nodded the black man, leaning over the table and grabbing a botle of wine, chugging its contents, receiving an amused glare from the Soldier.

"I didn't receive any orders about that. I assume they will go with all of you. Don't worry, this town is the most secure place for all of you." Answered the captain, taking out a new bottle.

"How so pal? Ah was quite sure that all the family's gutless cowards had eyes everywhere." Commented the Engineer from his corner, stroking the shotgun in his grip.

"The Undertaker owns the town. Nothing happens there without him knowing about it. So, your ass well be safe and sound."

"Sounds good enough for me." Commented the Sniper, while looking out of the cabin's little window. "And anyway, there is no more time for babble 'bout that. I can see land from here." Stated the australian, adjusting his glasses.

"Man, you got some strong eyes. Anyway, relax. What can go wrong?"

"That's the same thing my father told me before my first marriage." Grunted the Soldier.

-oOo-

"So, we are going to a boutique, do a little shopping, and then we'll be at the mansion-house-thing where we were supposed to go. Nothing to worry at all honey." Stated Douglas with a fake smile. Sue raised an eyebrow, clearly asking herself if her husband really believed he was convincing her. She didn't answer and just pulled her children closer, glaring at the group of armed men occupying the little backspace of the van. The german Medic and the giant russian guy were happily talking about something, while a little girl sometimes poked her head up from beside the giant, looking silently at the other two kids, even if she she hid again as soon as Sue looked at her.

His husband was immediately engulfed in a conversation with the 'Soldier' guy and a man with a strong southern accent about explosives, while the Spy and the Pyro were relaxed on the other side of the van, the girl's head leaning on the slim man's shoulder, snoring lightly. The frenchman was looking outside the van's window, looking at the docks and the little town: it was indeed a small port town. No wonder sometimes it wasn't even marked on the maps. The higher buildings were three floors tall, and only the church tower was evident in the landscape.

The woman let her eyes wonder around, stopping on the girl near the 'Scout' guy. She was obviously sick. But not sick due to a virus. She had seen this kind of sickness, when she still worked on patrol, before knowing Doug. Her eyes moved to the girl's elbows, immediately spotting the injection marks. The woman frowned, pondering if she should say something. but then she remembered the set of weapons that all these men, more or less, had dragged on the van, her husband too. She frowned even more, and pulled her children closer her.

At the same time Stevo was looking at the black car in front of the van, where the girl with the mismatched eyes had entered, waving a hand to the group. The Sniper scratched his nose, as the van took another turn after the black car, entering into a large street full of people and some cars. The driver, a tall bald man in a black suit stopped the van at a street corner, in front of a modest boutique, then he turned, facing the men behind his seat.

"Now enter and follow the instruction the owner will give you. I'll wait you here." He said calmly, staring at the men. "Take your stuff with you. No one will ask anything." The others nodded, as the Engineer opened the door, grabbed his shotgun and walked rapidly into the boutique, quickly followed by the others, some rapidly, as the Spy, some with more difficulty, like the Heavy, who was dragged down by his minigun, walking towards the shop while whistling, his sister attached to his back. The woman glared for a second to the group, before jumping off the van with her children and Billy's girl. The driver didn't react, so she just entered the shop.

As soon as they entered, a stuck up woman with a long nose, a short curtain of gray hair and a pair of golden glass on her face walked towards them, without blinking, and harshly sent the group inside a set of dressing rooms, then returned to her customers, that were looking a little surprised at the set of armed men who had just entered into the boutique.

"Just wait here, ok?" whispered the Demoman, receiving a glare from his wife. Then he smiled to his kids, before entering into the little room. And then, he saw it: it was a suit. Not a fancy suit, or a working suit: it was like his old Demoman's suit. Exactly the same, same shape, same features, same violet color. And beside him, a new, lucent Stickybomb Launcher and a full bottle of scrumpy. From the other stalls came the voices of the rest of his friends, especially the happy exclamation of the Soldier and the surprised statements of the Engineer. Douglas sighed, and put on the clothing. He could see where this was going, at this point: fully armed and dressed. It was quite improbable that the Undertaker wasn't going to ask them for something. His reflections were broken by a scream from the shop, followed by a shot.

-oOo-

"Now, this is easy: tell us where the group is, and you won't be hurt." stated coldly the man in the green and golden striped suit, mooving away the barrel of his gun from the blown apart head of the old woman, and aimed it at Sue's chest. The woman bit her lip, while standing in front of her children and the confused girl, who was sitting on the ground, barely aware of what was happening. On the other hand, her children were screaming like crazy, while the Heavy's little sister was letting out a confused series of russian words.

"How about you put away your gun and talk like a civil person?" asked the woman, trying to reason with him. After all, she was trained to deal with armed guys just using her words. The man bllinked, before letting out a low chuckle.

"I'm sorry lady, but I'm just asking you as a courtesy. They are here, we can just search for them." He stated, as another two men entered the shop, both of them armed and with not-so-reassuring faces. "So, maybe we can just speed up things putting you down, or take the less bloody way to end this." He said calmly, stroking the trigger. The woman growled, pushing back even more the children. The man sighed. "Suit yourselves."

A rain of bullets entered into his chest, sending him to the ground with a single yelp of pain. The other two men turned, and began to shoot at the giant in the purple uniform that ran into the room, a minigun firmly held in his grasp, as he continued to shoot against them.

"This is coward killing time!" he cried out with an ecstatic grin on his face, ignoring the bullets carving through his flesh, since a constant flow of glowing purple light was healing him. The Medic was firmly walking behind him, his new, shining medi-gun aimed at his old collegue.

"Gesundheit, herr Heavy!" he cried out, walking steadily behind the mass of muscle in front of him, as the two family's men stepped back in fear, clearly not understanding what was going on. From the dressing rooms, the Demoman, Soldier and Sniper darted out, the first one crouching behind his wife.

"Get behind the counter, now!" he ordered, while loading a couple of purple-shimmering grenades inside his weapon. Sue didn't object: the safety of the kids was her first priority. She dragged them with her, as well as the dreamy girl, and pushed them against the surface, covering their heads with her arms.

"We have counted ammo lads! Let's make every single one of 'em count!" cried out the scotsman's voice.

"Ain't gonna be easy mate, there are a lot of them outside. Even on some buildings. I can take care of them though."

"Gentleman." Stated the calm voice of the Spy, as he came out of the dressing room. He was quite the same, except he was now wearing a purple suit and a purple balaklava on his head. "Time to get rid of some pests, I see."

"Safe place my golden ass!" growled the Soldier's voice, followed by an explosion.

"Let's get 'em!" cried out the Scout's voice, as the all group of men ran out, letting out war cries. Sue couldn't resist letting out a sigh and rolling her eyes. Men.

On the street, people were running around in panic, as bullets, rockets and bombs flew around. A few bodies were already covering the street, a few of the family's members and a couple of civilians.

"Like the old times." thought the Engineer, while shooting with his shotgun, watching as a couple of men were hit in the head by the spiked mace of the Scout. Just as the old days.

"Stay still ya little scumbags, I can't kill you if you continue to move!" cried out the Soldier, aiming with his rocket launcher at a little man, who was running around, his gun empty. In an instant of fear, the little man took cover behind a tanker with a 'flammable' tag on it. And in an instant of pure manliness, the Soldier fired.

-oOo-

Deirdre cowered in fear inside the little room, as an explosion rocked the building itself. She could feel the sounds, the screams outside, and she could also see the 'gift' they wanted to give her: a new, purple fire suit, and a lucent, stainless flamethrower. She sat in a corner, closing her eyes and breathing. She was going to stay there, even if from the smell she could tell the building was probably on fire now. She wasn't going to move anyway. She was too scared. And scared of the visions too.

"But why be scared?" asked a little voice in her head. "You could help Jaime a lot more. I think this is the least you could do, since he helped you so much."

The girl looked at the firehood laying above the suit, its empty goggles looking back at her.

-oOo-

(I highly suggest you to open youtube, search for the team fortress 2 soundtrack "dreams of cruelty" and listen to it while reading this part)

"Hell!" cried out Sue, standing up from beside the counter. What the hell did they do? There was an explosion, and now the place was on fire? The hell! The flames were spreading quickly, attacking all the dresses on the hangers and shelves, filling the air with thick smoke. That was probably why the woman didn't see the gun heading towards her face until the last moment, hitting her and sending her to the ground again.

"Here they are!" cried out a voice, as a bulky man leaned over her and the kids. "We can use them as hostages. Those idiots outside will be easy kills." He stated with a wicked grin, as another man emerged from the smoke, coughing.

"I don't know man. And, by the way, weren't there supposed to be nine?" he asked, cleaning his teary eyes.

His companion was about to reply, when his head was violently slammed against a wall by the sharpened edge of a fire axe. The hit was so strong that the upper jaw and upper part of his skull ripped away from the rest of his body, which fell to the ground, motionless.

"The fuck is this?!" screamed in fear the other man, aiming with trembling hands at the figure exiting from the smoke. The silhouette was quicker, taking some sort of flare gun out of his belt and shooting, placing a single big bullet-hole between the man's eyes. Sue raised her sight, while the kids just hugged her, terrified: an intimidating figure in a purple fire suit and gas mask walked slowly towards them, placing its gun back in its belt, while the other hand freed the fire axe from the wall, hooking it onto the other side of the belt. When its hands were free, it grabbed the mouth of the flamethrower bound to its back, and began walking slowly towards the woman, while a metallic breathing rasped out from the mask. It stopped, studying the group of trembling kids and frightened woman with a tilt of its head, beore turning towards the exit and began walking slowly towards it, the flamethrower firmly held in its grasp.

The woman relaxed only when the figure let out a muffled scream, raising the flamethrower above its head, and ran into the street. The Pyro had awakened.

Oo-oO

Finaly, new chapter. Finally some action is back. Aaaand, next chapter will have a little bit of more team action. They have to get rid of the family, right?

Hope you enjoied, and remember to drop a review for letting me know that. 'Till next time guys, gotta kill some robots now.