Future Meets the Past

Chapter 3: Takeoff

"Are they still out there, Richy?" The Flanker asked, stuffing a sandwich into his mouth that he had bought from the café he and the Trooper had ran into for hiding after their little prank with the Agent.

"Not a single one in sight." The man with the helmet answered, peeking his head out of the exit as he kept watch for either the Agent or the Brute in his team that might be heading towards them to give them payback for what the duo did to her. "And that's SIR Richard to you, private!" He faced the young man, who casually tossed the last piece of the sandwich into his mouth, the older man of the two having grabbed the attention of a few customers that looked on with awkward expressions, as he had raised his voice a few seconds ago.

"Yeah yeah, alright, Sir "Dick"." The boy chuckled, before being grabbed by the throat by the Midwesterner as several of the customers looked on in fear.

"SIR RICHARD, DAMN IT! DO YOU UNDERSTAND, PRIVATE?!" Richard screamed as the Flanker gasped for air, the hand around his throat tightening as the youngster flailed his legs uselessly to get out of the chokehold.

"HEY!" The Trooper paused, noticing a woman in their cafeteria outfit pointing out towards the door as she walked towards them.

"I'm going to ask you both to please leave this café at once if you want to act like this, or I'll be calling security to escort you both out the airport! You two are scaring our customers, and you, "sir"," the employee, clearly Italian with her accent held a phone to her ear, simultaneously having a look of disbelief and fear at the thought of this war criminal potentially snapping her neck like it was a dry, brittle twig. "...get the hell out. Now." She furrowed her brow at the man before her, trying to say this as firmly as possible, despite the shakiness in her voice.

"PAH!" Richard tossed the Flanker to the side, walking out the door with his luggage trailing behind him, it appearing scarred, tattered and emitting an odor. "Women..." he muttered under his breath as the New Yorker hesitantly followed behind him out of the cafeteria, carrying his own baggage.

"Dude, the hell was that for?!" The Flanker inquired, grasping his neck and rubbing it with his fingers at the red marks indicating where the Trooper had held him.

"You're damn lucky that I'm on the same team as you, twerp..." The man grumbled, walking and looking around the airport. "...Shoulda just snapped your neck on the spot for making fun of my name. Next time, I'm REALLY gonna do it, is that understood?! I will be treated with the respect I deserve!" He turned to face the youngster, who was taken aback by the outburst from earlier, but masked his fear of the Trooper's threat with a smirk.

"Sure, sure! I'll... definitely keep that in mind, heh..." He let out a soft, nervous chuckle, the man he was following next to letting out an assured humph as they kept on walking around the airport, eventually finding the carpet that led to their team's private jet.

Both stopped in their tracks, the youngster taking a moment to examine where it was going towards. Definitely past some stores here and there, offering liquor, make up, clothes, snacks, candies, and so forth along with some fast food joints, a song playing from one of the speakers in the terminal area while the sound of people walking around everyone livened up the place, some of which were curious as to why the red carpet was present on the floor and were even following it, most likely out of curiosity.

"Should we, uh... really get on board that plane that guy on the speaker told us about?" The Flanker crossed his arms, appearing unsure of himself as he noticed the Brute and Agent walking alongside each other amongst the sea of people, dragging their luggages behind them. "That guy near her REALLY looked like he was gonna beat us to hell if we got too close to her! I mean, just look at him! Freakin' huge and everything!" He stepped back as he noticed the Brute briefly glancing at his direction, only to face the Agent as she talked to him about something that neither the Flanker or Trooper could hear.

This caused the soldier next to him to let out a laugh in response to what he said.

"COME ON, you're scared of HIM?! PUH-LEASE!" Richard wheezed as the Flanker groaned at his nervousness being made fun of. "See these hands, boy?! I could take that big lard head on by myself if I had to! I'm sure you could even run circles around that big oaf and give that sissy next to him a slap on those cheeks!" He pointed at the woman's rear with a grin on his face, the Flanker for a split second wanting to muster up a laugh, only to glance away to the side at the comment made towards the Agent, emitting a hard sigh from himself as he began walking forward on the red carpet leading to the security check-up.

The Trooper, on their way towards the security gates, took notice of this sudden change of behavior, humming in curiosity as he followed behind the young male that looked down at the carpet below him.

"Say, private..." He said, walking next to the Flanker now as the young man glanced at his direction. "...are you really interested in that lady we just met, or...?" He pointed at the Agent, who just walked through the metal gates where security was behind the Brute.

"W-what?! N-no, absolutely not!" His cheeks flashed red as he remarked at the Midwesterner, defensively. "S-She was the one who wanted to slap me for apparently getting too close and when we pranked her when you wanted to put those rocks in her luggage, and, and..." He paused for a moment, trying to find the words to describe what he was feeling while the Trooper's curious expression turned into one of deviousness.

"Oooooh, seems like our little fleabag here has a love at first sight moment here, huh?! Heh heh heh heh heh!" He teased, his grin growing wider as he butted his elbow onto the New Yorker's arm.

"J-Just shut up! Jeez..." He said as he pouted his lips, gripping his hand on his baggage's handle firmly. "Anyways, we got a plane to catch, alright?! Let's just get moving already, man, before we miss it!" He began walking faster towards the security gates, watching the Agent and the Brute walking through the doors leading outside together as he pulled out his certificate that he got from Fitten Co., the Trooper following suit as they approached the metal gates.

A security guard manning the gates stopped them both, if not him, the metal gates that were now shut before the pair of Americans that blocked their access. The man in question appearing to have a bit of a beer belly and a brown-colored beard with glasses, appearing to look tired, as well.

"Your ID and certificate from Fitten Co., please?" He asked, his tone monotone as he eyed the pair before him.

"Yeah, yeah, here's my ID, man!" The Flanker rushed to give the guard on the other side his ID, alongside the certificate to prove his mercenary status, to which the man examined the contents, nodding several times before the red color on the metal beams flashed a bright green upon the guard on the other side pressing the button. The Flanker walked through the gates with relative ease, alongside his luggage going through a scanner with a conveyor underneath it, to which he was given the clear without any suspicious items found inside of it.

Richard, meanwhile, did the same thing as his colleague, presenting the ID and certificate to the guard, though was stopped as an alarm blared the moment his luggage entered the scanner.

"Oh come on, what now?!" He was stopped by the gates, noticing several guards walking up to him.

"You there, come with us!" They ordered, the broader, chubbier one manning the gate grabbing the Trooper in his moment of confusion, unable to even say anything as he was pulled away from the security gate. He was ordered to take off everything he had, and place his belongings on the conveyor that led into the scanner for further examination of anything else he had on him that could be illegal for confiscation.

Sighing, Richard placed his jacket, hat, and everything else on him outside of his boots and clothes on the conveyor as the machine within the scanner examined the contents inside of his belongings that stopped him. It eventually paused, as the machine let out a blaring sound in response to what was found within.

"Now now, what is this right here, americano?" The guard said to him as it was revealed there were several firearms, explosives, cigars, matches and sharp objects in his clothes, including a few more found inside of his baggage, to which the Trooper grumbled underneath his breath.

The Flanker, meanwhile, looked gobsmacked at this reveal, not even being able to believe himself at what he just witnessed.

"Weapons for self-defense, in case someone were to try and attack me, like that little one there, for example!" He pointed at a random child spectating the commotion going on inside, balling one of his hands into fists at this pointless distraction as the parents took them away from the scene that was unfolding. "He could be carrying a bomb on him in that jacket of his! HE COULD EVEN BE WORKING FOR THE ISLAMIC STATE AS A CHILD SOLDIER, FOR ALL WE KNOW!" One of the guards shook their head at him in response, their expression and mouth agape filled with disbelief, stupefied at what this man was claiming as the other two guards manning the station took out their phones and cuffs.

"Alright, signore, you're coming with us to the polizia for questioning, you-"
"He ain't goin' anywhere." A voice interrupted the guard that was about to cuff the trooper, everyone present in the room being taken aback as they stood around, confused.

"Let him through." It was the same voice that controlled the bus, who picked up all of the mercenaries from around the world.

There was a small moment of silence as the guard looked at the speakers in the corners, confused at the order he and the other personnel were given, before it spoke again "I said: 'Let. 'im. Through', chief. Do you understand?" It ordered from the other end. "As mighty stupid as this... idiot, for a lack of better terminology may seem, he's important to the RED company and for Reginald's safety, and you definitely wouldn't want to disrespect Fitten Co.'s contract about their mercenaries bein' able to carry weapons on them, alongside RED being able to sue ya for hinderin' their business now, would you?"

"B-But... signore, I-, he's-!" The security guard next to the Trooper protested, grabbing the luggage from the conveyor that contained all of the firearms and weapons inside.

"Do you and the rest of your boys want to keep your job or not, porkchop?" The voice asked once more, now slightly more menacing than before as the guard stopped with what he was doing, looked at the Trooper for several seconds, then sighed reluctantly as he gestured for the mercenary to pass through, despite the firearms they were carrying on them.

The Trooper hesitantly trotted through the gates that now were lit with a green color, signaling that he was able to walk through without any issues.

"Thanks, uh... weird voice coming from the speaker!" The Trooper smiled somewhat and gave a thumbs up, waving at the camera mounted in the corner as he walked through the gates, the alarm blaring for a moment before it was shut down, seemingly by the voice emanating from the speakers as he made his way over to the youngster, still staring at him with wide eyes in shock.

"Dude, you brought WEAPONS?! HERE?!" The Flanker asked as they approached another set of sliding doors leading outside to the airfield.

"Mainly guns for self-defense, kid. Never know what kind of people you'll work with, especially in a unit like this." He pulled out a cigar from one of his pockets, pulling out a set of matches from the other pocket across the left one.

"T-that's understandable and all, but... STILL! WHAT THE HELL?!" He stopped in his tracks, splaying his arms out to the Trooper as they smoked their blunt, emitting smoke rings from their mouth. "We're supposed to be workin' together and all that good stuff! Don'tcha think this is a bit... too far?! You even called some random kid a child soldier working for ISIS of all things, like, ARE YOU MAD?!" Both stared at each other for a while, before the older of the two chuckled at the youngster's worries.

"Hah! Nonsense, boy." He exhaled, a gust of smoke pouring onto the New Yorker as they coughed in response to the fumes accidentally entering their windpipe. "As if anyone's gonna stop this trooper from getting to where he needs to be! Now, how about we stop yammering about like a pair of little schoolchildren and get inside that plane, alright?! Can't keep the boys hanging around for too long, y'know. And besides..." He flashed a smirk. "I want a piece of that Italian pie when we get on board the plane, whether there's going to be a big, fat man waiting to tear my head off or not!" The man laughed to himself as they proceeded to start walking up the stairs leading into the jet, puffing out another cloud of vapor before tossing away the cigar to his side onto the asphalt underneath him.

The Flanker, meanwhile, kept his distance as he let out another series of coughs from the smoke trail left behind by his midwestern colleague. "Good freakin' god, could this guy get ANY worse?! He can't be serious about-!" He thinks to himself as he watched him enter the plane, before hearing the sound of a woman yelling at someone to get away from them inside the plane. "Yep, knew it." He scoffed, not surprised at the commotion going on inside as he entered the plane himself, the doors behind him closing soon after on their own.


"Get away from me, ratto sporco!" Bethany ordered as the Trooper tried to force himself to sit next to her, the man trying to do so laughing as he playfully attempted to grope her with one of his hands, only for Tony next to her to growl at the man invading her personal space, almost on the verge of screaming.

"Leave 'er alone, brother!" He said as he stood up, towering over both the woman and the American harassing her. "Otherwise, you'll be tastin' more than just my fists! I mean it when I said: Leave. Her. Alone. Or else." He sternly warned the man, ready to get physical as the giant made his way past Bethany and towards the helmeted man, before the Trooper eventually left them both alone, emitting a chuckle from himself as he walked past everyone that looked at him disapprovingly and were somewhat afraid of him, outside of the deactivated Arsonist that the Mechanic was tinkering with, alongside the Annihilator that was on the verge of sleeping and wasn't bothered by the commotion going on.

As the woman sat back down, still shaken by her bout with the Midwesterner borderline assaulting her, she saw yet another face that she didn't want to look at entering the passenger area.

"Hey, I-"
"Don't." She said to the Flanker having just entered the room, a vexed look on her as the New Yorker raised his hands in self-defense.

"Wow wow, okay, missy, no need to get so pissed at me, you know! I just-" He says with a nervous smile, backing away from her.

"Yes, no need for me to get angry when YOU, and that IDIOT," she stood up, pointing at him and the Trooper in the back respectively. "put those stones in my baggage on my first day meeting you two! How can I NOT be "pissed" at you, as you Americans call it?!" She stared with daggers at the youngster for a while, before sitting down again, a groan making its way out of her as she folded her arms while the Flanker, taken aback by her rage, slowly made his way over to his supposed partner in the back, wanting to respect the woman's privacy.

She sat there, wondering why of all people she had to be put into a group full of men with no women in the team whatsoever, some of these men that were even willing to make her first day a living nightmare.

"Hey, ya alright, sister?" Tony asked after the Flanker was a far enough distance away from them both, an eyebrow raised as Bethany looked back in his direction, snapped out of her thoughts.

"No, clearly not, big man." She responded, bearing an exasperated expression as she let out a frustrated exhale. "But I suppose I can't stay mad at them forever. After all," The Agent paused, placing a hand underneath her cheeks as she rested her head on it, the arm rest underneath her elbow supporting it. She didn't know how to continue her sentence, but did so anyway. "that would be unprofessional of me. And professionality is what this company expects from me." Bethany glances to her right, forcing a smile on her as Kyle and Roger were talking to each other across from hers and Tony's seats, which were at the left side of the plane that everyone were on.

She once more let out an exhale, attempting to calm herself down from what happened.

"Heh, guess we all gotta get along in some way despite everything, don't we?" The Brute shrugged, letting out a long sigh as he stares out the window next to Bethany to get a view of the airport and airfield the plane they were in resided at.

"...I hope so." Bethany mutters, briefly eyeing the Flanker and Trooper behind her for a few seconds before looking back in front of her, trying to find something to distract herself with. Nothing, outside of a magazine or two about the company that she was going to work for underneath some sockets, which she curiously grabbed and takes a look at its front cover.

"COME VISIT REGINALD'S EARTHLY DISCOVERIES TODAY! BUY OUR TECHNOLOGICALLY-ADVANCED GIZMOS, NON-POLLUTING OIL AND FUELS, SUSTAINABLE MEAT, GOODS AND SUPPLIES FOR ALL OF YOUR COMPANY'S NEEDS!" She simply shrugged at the magazine advertising her company's products to her, uninterested as she offered the publication to Tony, who declined her offer as she placed it back inside the netted holder where it was originally.

Some time passed as everyone got acquainted with each other's placements and seats, before a small jingle played inside the jet all of the mercenaries and flight attendants were on board of that caught the former's attention, the tune itself eventually going silent as the sound of a microphone picked up from the other side.

"Good day, fellow mercenaries of RED!" A middle-aged man's voice spoke through it, this one sounding somewhat deep and soft-spoken, though, not as much as the one from the bus that Bethany and everyone else heard when she first boarded it, alongside getting off it. "This is your chief executive officer of the RED Company, Reginald Gerhardt speaking to all of you personally from my headquarters' office. Please, do stand up from your seats! If you don't feel like it, feel free to remain seated, though, I do implore you all to listen to what I have to say before liftoff." He requested as everyone outside of the Arsonist, Trooper and Mechanic did as they were told and sat up, Bethany placing her hands on the seat in front of her, eyeing the speakers mounted next to the screen hanging above the intersection leading to the captain's seat, exit and flight attendant room.

"I would personally like to welcome and thank each and every one of you for accepting my offer in wanting to help and protect me and my company during this dangerous time of my life. As the nine of you may know from having signed underneath my contract given to you from my late father's friend; Joseph Fitten, my company has lately been under attack from my brother's company for several months now, the company of which some of you might know as Gerhardt & Radisson Natural, or G.R.N., for short, which I used to help run alongside my father, the previous owner of the company, alongside my brother that currently owns it; Thomas." A screen placed above the doorway lit up, showing the company that had been trying to ruining RED's efforts and finances as of late with images of Thomas Gerhardt and his family were shown to the mercenaries, alongside video footage of several on-tape assassination attempts made on Reginald and other key figures representing the company, alongside bombs mounted on what appeared to be payload carts exploding in some of the company's mining and meat industry facilities that showcased the death and injury count.

"For those that are unaware of what's been going on recently, my brother has recently hired a gaggle of mercenaries of his own after signing a deal with Joseph, mainly to dispose of me through cover-up assassination attempts and to shut down my company's bases of operations, mining facilities, slaughterhouses, weapon facilities and so forth in order to advance his goal of continuing the mission of what my father set out to do several decades ago during my childhood years. Contrary to what you all were led to believe from Joseph, or from the media supporting my brother's efforts, I've decided during your bus trip around the world that the nine of you will NOT be making any attempts on my brother's life, as much as he doesn't want to believe me and my "lies" to deface my family's company that I used to be part of." The mercenaries on board the jet looked at each other, curious by this sudden decision compared to when they first got the letter of approval from Reginald and Joseph that got them signed up for the job as contract killers that were set out to murder Reginald's brother and anyone that tried to oppose their jobs.

"Rather, the lot of you will mainly be my company's protectors that will be needed around my facilities in order to stop these assassinations from my brother's company until me, Thomas and my mother have found a peaceful solution to this pointless squabbling between us two. I can't tell you all how much this has been hurting my poor, old mother's heart, and I want this needless fighting between us to be put to an end without as much violence as possible." A sigh comes out of the Reginald's voice on the speakers, the man on the other end seemingly gathering his thoughts for a moment before speaking once more.

"For now, though... any questions that you all may have, and any additional information can wait until you've arrived to New Mexico at my company headquarters where we may get more acquainted with one another. Please, do accommodate yourselves with what this jet has to offer until you make the trip from Italy to America. I will personally be greeting you all there at the landing site near my company's headquarters upon your arrival. I hope you'll enjoy the food, drinks and entertainment you will have access to during your flight to the other side of the world, on top of having Wi-Fi access to your phones and computer if any entertainment will be needed to satisfy you, the password of which will be given to you on the screen once I've stopped talking, alongside a map showing this plane's current destination." Reginald stopped talking for a moment, allowing the mercenaries to have a bit of small talk together at the luxury they were given while on board the plane.

"Thank you all once more for your cooperation, and I'll be seeing the nine of you sometime in the next day or two on your way over here. Over and out." The sound of a click is heard as the speakers go silent, the Agent, having heard of her being able to use wireless network on board the plane, immediately unpacked her baggage above her and pulled out her laptop from within as a map appeared on the screen her company CEO's voice came from, alongside the password to the plane's Wi-Fi at the bottom of the screen while everyone else outside of Tony and the Annihilator sleeping right behind the Agent and Brute took out their phones.

"Huh, ya brought a computer with you, sister?" Tony inquired while Bethany powered up her laptop, rummaging through her baggage for the power cable as she waited for it to boot up.

"Indeed." She answered with a slightly more positive attitude, the screen lighting up to her login screen showing a picture of her holding Harry close to her, a picture her mother had taken of her on the day of her graduation. Tony, upon seeing this, smiled at the picture as he found the picture of the Agent grinning at the camera adorable while Bethany pulled out a cable that she plugged into the socket above the magazine she pulled out. "Our boss said that we are able to make the most of it on our trip to America, so... why not watch some movies or listen to some audiobooks in the meanwhile?" The Agent said as she typed in her password, the Brute looking away from her laptop to respect her privacy as her home desktop appeared upon successfully logging in.

"Hey, you two wanna come over here?" Bethany called over to the seats next to hers and Tony's as Kyle and Roger glanced over to her, noticing the laptop on her legs as the former put away their phone.

"'ey, ya brought a gizmo o' yer own with ya, Beth?" Kyle bent over next to her as he watched Bethany open up her computer's internet browser.

"! I was wondering if we four could maybe watch some movies together, if you'd like?" She typed in the website address to Netflix as she quickly logged into it with her account, a plethora of movies, TV shows and series appears before the four to choose from.

"Well, now! Isn't this some lovely entertainment for us all?" Roger said optimistically, Kyle nodding in response with both his eyebrows raised, tilting his head at the Italian.

"Eh, sure, why not? Whatcha got for us?" He stared down at the screen, trying to spot anything on it that caught his interest.

"Hmmmm... I don't know... "Bethany sat there, wondering what would be the best movie for them four to watch together as she slowly scrolled down the choices that were presented to her and her colleagues.

It was going to be a bit tough to figure out, considering all four of them had such radically different tastes from one another in terms of what they liked, so picking the movie that suited them all was not going to be easy.

That was, though, until a simple question popped into her head that made her talk.

"What kind of movies do you guys like?" She looked at the three mercenaries surrounding her, Roger tapping his chin and humming to himself while Kyle and Tony sat there, wondering themselves on what they should watch together.

"Well," Roger broke the silence. "I do like myself some science fiction, such as those Alien and Star Trek series to watch now and again! Though, what really has caught my interest as of late is a movie called "Silence of the Lambs", which I've been meaning to watch for a while after seeing some movies along with my pop called Saw, but I've never gotten around to it, quite unfortunately."

"Silence o' the Lambs? Saw?!" Kyle interjected, looking away from his side of the window at his colleague's suggestion with a somewhat judgmental look. "Ya mean movies about crazed people that kill, skin and even eat other people for a livin'? What's so interestin' about a guy that murders people in 'is spare time, along with people being tortured?!" The southerner questions in a bit of disgust, crossing his arms at what the Doctor suggested.

"Well, I've always taken a fascination in knowing what goes through a man's head when he's so clearly insane with whatever he is doing, yet, also displays his intelligence and expertise in his field at the same time with what sorts of experiments he cooks up with! Even if, of course, their methods are dubiously questionable." Roger answered with excitement, Bethany and Tony staring curiously at the brit's suggestion for what they should watch together, whereas Kyle simply chuckled out loud at Roger's recommendation.

"Yeah, sorry to pop your bubble there, nurse, but..." Kyle turned his back towards them, stretching himself as he turned his head to face the trio behind him. "...I'm more-or-less a nature and huntin' documentary sorta guy when it comes to seein' flicks and TV series on the big screen, ya get me? People bein' murdered and tortured for like 90 minutes straight ain't my thing, capiché?"

"That is most perfectly reasonable, Kyle!" Roger answers, his optimism unwavering. "You can still watch the movie with us, even if it's not your sort of thing. It's always nice to have a little get-together and socialize with us about your interests despite it all, isn't it?"

"Heh, yer not wrong with that, doc." The Marksman mutters just loud enough for the trio to hear, looking at a stone he picked up and carved on from when they were unpacking them from Bethany's luggage, shrugging soon afterward with a smile as he placed it on his seat's armrest. "Alright, fine! I guess I'll watch it with y'all, then, just expect me to not be THAT interested in it if it gets squeamish for me, fair?" He sits on the floor, looking a bit miffed as he stares at the seats next to him that Bethany and Tony sat on. "Kinda wish there were 4 seats for us instead of 2, damn..." He says, just as he spots the Mechanic walking over to them.

"Hey there, what's going on over here with this discussion about people being murdered and all?" The man wearing overalls said as he placed one of his arms on the top of the seats Bethany and Tony were sitting on, carrying a wrench in his other palm as he noticed the computer on the former's lap.

"Going to watch some Silence of the Lambs together, would you um... like to join us?" Bethany asks, the Mechanic eyeing the screen displaying what the group of four were going to watch.

"Nah, not my sort of thing." He stated bluntly as he took a step back, twirling the wrench in his hand. "And I still got the Arsonist in the back there to tinker with during our ride together. Pretty complicated mess, even for me. Can't seem to get him up and running, for some reason." He points to the robot manned at the back of the plane with his thumb, showing a clear expression of curiosity and annoyance at the same time while scratching the back of his head.

"Fair enough, pardner, but..." Kyle interrupts, the Mechanic turning to look at him as he was about to head back to the robot. "...could ya quickly tinker some extra seats for me an' Roger here? Don't wanna be standin' all day, just to watch a movie."

"Heh, now, don't assume me telling you that you're dumb or anything, friend, but you do know that you can always ask Bomber-Man over there to move himself for you two, right?" The technician pointed at the Annihilator, who was now sleeping on the seats behind Bethany and Tony, taking up both seats with his legs sticking out from the armrest and snoring somewhat loudly.

"I don't wanna wake him up or anything, though, pal! I barely even know the guy!" Kyle said as he directed one of his arms towards the ginger, before witnessing the Mechanic gently shaking the Irishman from his sleep.

"Wait, what are you-?!" Kyle protested, before hearing the Annihilator grumbling to himself.
"Ugh, wha', wha' is it?! Can't ya see tha' I'm-" The ginger woke up from his half-asleep state, irritated until he took notice of the Mechanic, Doctor and Marksman standing before him, the Irishman staring at the three in front of him in confusion. "Oh, what do ya three want? Can't ya see tha' I'm-"

"Apologies for him waking you up like this, friend." Roger said politely as he patted the Mechanic's shoulder, attempting to defuse the man's temper while the man with overalls slowly began to make his way to the back where the Arsonist was. "But we'd kindly like to ask you if we could borrow these seats for just a moment. Bethany over here wants us to watch a movie together on our trip to America, if that is alright with you?" The Annihilator responded with a confused "Huh?" before turning over to the seats next to him that the Brute and Agent shared together, standing up and noticing what was going on in front of him, Bethany waving shyly at him with a smile as she glanced in his direction.

"OH! We're watchin' a movie?! Well, why didn't ya say so, laddie! I was gettin' mighty bored outta me skull waitin' for somethin' to happen! Come on 'ere, then!" He moved himself closer to the window, just barely making enough space for the Marksman and Doctor as the three sat clumped up together, the Marksman having to readjust the position of the armrest in order to make enough space for the three men to sit together.

"Well, that's one way of fixin' it, pardner!" Kyle stated, the Mechanic finding a bit of humor in the situation as he turned around, a half-smile appeared on his lips.

"You're welcome, friend! Hope you all enjoy this movie, 'cuz I got some work to do." He said as he resumed working with the Arsonist's wiring and body in order to activate them, the Trooper and Flanker meanwhile talking with each other about the next likely American president being a black man, the latter of which finding the situation absurd as he tried to rebuke the youngster's suggestion, until the Trooper moved on from the subject and began talking about how women shouldn't be partaking in wars, nurse or not, pointing at Bethany.

That was, until everyone heard the engines of the plane revving up.

"Hello, mercenaries of RED, this is your captain speaking!" A woman's voice came out of the speakers, grabbing everyone's attention, outside of the Trooper. "We're about to make our way for liftoff, so please, do remain seated for this period of time and fasten your seatbelts. This will only take a few minutes as we make our way to the skies." Everyone rushed to put on their seatbelts while Kyle and Roger hurried over to their seats as they left the Annihilator by himself, Bethany holding firmly onto her laptop as she closed it, looking at everyone around her and feeling her body getting tense.

She felt the plane moving forward after the message was announced to everyone, making its way slowly towards the takeoff area, the vehicle gradually moving faster, and faster until it suddenly stopped as it made it to the tail end of the landing area.

Nervousness filled Bethany's body as she felt the plane turning around, pivoting itself to gain enough space for its takeoff.

She recalls rarely, if ever having taken a plane during her life, the last time she did so was during around her infancy when her father was still around when she first arrived to Italy with her parents and older sibling, though, nothing else that she was able to recall as she tried to find out how it was going to be like.

"Might wanna keep yerself ready, Beth. This is gonna be one helluva ride." The Marksman told her, the woman tightening her grip on her armchair as she anticipated the worst.

She waited, and waited, time seeming to have slowed down to a halt until the plane that she, and the other mercenaries were on started speeding up to incredibly high speeds, the sudden shift in momentum catching her off guard. "Dagli dei! What's going on?!" She wondered to herself as she felt her fear overtaking her, eyeing the teammates around her until she began feeling as though the plane she was on was flying, proceeding to take a look out the window next to her.

True to her thoughts, she saw that the plane she was on was steering itself off from the ground, away from her homeland. The Italian looked out the window next to her, her fear replaced with awe at the land below her shrinking as they kept on going higher up to the skies.

"Heh, lovely sight, ain't it, sister?" Tony next to her raised his voice in excitement while she kept staring out the window, the man besides her relaxing as he stroked his golden beard at the thought of being airborne.

"S-Sí! I've... almost never been on a plane, ever!" She said with a shaky voice, nervous, but excited as she felt the plane still going higher, her ears beginning to feel stuffy as she scratched them slightly in response, trying to get rid of whatever was getting in her earholes, but to no avail.

"Bethany!" She heard her name being called, facing Roger that had noticed her trying to deal with the stuffiness in her ears. "Do this!" The Doctor said as he grabbed his nose and exhaled through it, closing his eyes and opening them again upon doing whatever he did.

Bethany, confused, but willing to listen to one of the men on her team that she trusts on, followed suit with the same thing, continuing to do this until the air in her ears let out a pop. She gave the man a thumbs up after, before feeling herself getting a tad lightweight in her head, taking deep breaths to avoid herself from getting airsick in front of everyone.

Minutes passed by as the plane kept on going higher and higher into the skies, to a point where Bethany saw nothing but the bright light of the sun shining through the window, the blue, cerulean-colored skies, alongside the blanket of clouds underneath her and her team that Bethany found herself in, the plane and the mercenaries reaching up as high as 11 kilometers off the ground displayed on the screen showcasing the plane's location before she, along with the rest of the men felt the plane stabilizing its trajectory and position.

She finally began to relax somewhat after going through the takeoff stages of her travel from Italy to America, sighing as she felt more comfortable after enduring what was possibly her first time inside of a plane that was taking off into the skies.

A few more minutes went by, before a ding emanated from the speakers, the mercenaries eyeing their surroundings as the seatbelt icon disappeared.

"Everyone, we are now in commercial aircraft space, 12 kilometers above land, and are making our way to America, New Mexico! We estimate that the amount of time taken for this trip will last up to 12 hours and 5 minutes, provided if everything should go smoothly without too many problems. You are all now able to unfasten your seatbelts, though, please remain in your seats, as menus provided by the flight attendant staff will be served to you of your choosing of any beverages, meals and snacks that will be handed to you shortly. Thank you, and we hope you'll enjoy your flight brought to you by Reginald's Earthly Discoveries!" The microphone cuts off, before the screen above the door leading to the intersection shows a map of the globe, alongside the plane's current location being over Italy.

This, for all of them, was going to be a long, long ride.

Bethany glanced over to her right, spotting Kyle and Roger unfastening their seatbelts as soon as the message ended, and sat once more behind the seats she and Tony were sitting on alongside the Annihilator, the three of them, including the Annihilator that had been roped into this eagerly awaited for the Agent to begin the movie that Roger had wanted to see for a while now. It was a bit of an awkward silence between the four, as she had to take a moment to take in the experience she was going through.

Bethany, in control of the movie clicked play, only for the passenger seat area's lights to begin dimming, initially making everyone think that there was a power outage until the movie appeared on the screen where the map was, surprising not only her, but the rest of her teammates.

"Wow, what the-?!" Kyle said, stunned.
"Well, then! That is one way of making watching a movie far more convenient!" Roger sat back, arms resting behind him while the Annihilator's interest was piqued at what was going on, his excitement growing as he let out a chuckle.

"Well, boys..." Bethany said as she paused, turning to face her colleagues behind her with a bit of a sheepish look, including the Flanker and Trooper that kept their distance from her, the woman trying to keep her patience with them despite what they put her through earlier today, especially the Trooper that she had assumed only jokingly wanted to get a reaction out of her. "...are you all ready to watch this movie with us?"

"Yeah!" Everyone partaking in watching the movie said to some varying degree, Kyle being the most quiet of the bunch until he stood up, the Agent turning her head at his direction.

"After this, though..." Kyle said, Bethany looking at him quizzically as the rest of the mercenaries that took part in the event shifted their attention towards the southerner. "...I wanna watch some nature documentaries." He said as he faced the rest of the group around him. "If you and the rest of the team wants to, of course!" A slight smile appeared on the Italian's lips as the mercenaries around her nodded to the notion to some degree, her smile turning into a small grin as she noticed the amount of documentaries there were waiting for her and Kyle to pick from once they were done watching Hannibal that Roger had suggested.

"Seems like these people aren't so bad, after all..." She felt herself slightly more comfortable around these men now, compared to when she first met them on the bus. Though, she definitely still got some more work to do with some of the other mercenaries she wasn't too comfortable around just yet.

"You got yourself a deal, then." Bethany answered, pressing play as the movie began playing on the screen for all of the mercenaries to watch together.


Author's Note: Would you look at that? Just barely managed to post this chapter in time before April rolled around. I don't have much else to say, this chapter might seem a bit filler-ish for what it has to offer, but don't worry, it's not like we're going to spend 10 or so chapters of the mercenaries inside the plane, I'm not going to make the same mistake I made like 5 years ago when I was writing my Splatoon stories, haha.

Anyways, I'm going to start cooking up some ideas for the next chapter. It's going to be more interesting than this one, that's for sure, so stick around! I'll see you all again in the next chapter!