"Now, that is some mobile castle." Sage let out a whistle as he saw Rhodes Island before him. "Do you think we can afford to buy such a ride?"
"No." Berserker replied back as he polished his shield.
"I put that as a maybe." Sage rubbed his chin for a moment. "Or, we could demand this vehicle as our reward. Wait, no. We could hijack it and have the lion share of the rewards."
The crews of Rhodes island turned around and stared at the two upon hearing Sage's comments.
"You guys really lack of humor in your bones." Sage tried to dismiss their stares.
The vendor noticed a black figure approaching them with the assistance at the side, holding a briefcase tightly, signals the two to be on their best behaviour.
"I'm am the Doctor of Rhodes Island. I'm grateful for saving my operators."
It was hard to judge the gender from the figure through the clothing but from the Doctor feminine voice, was all they had to work with.
"Without your help, we couldn't secure-"
"Save the fancy words. We are here to collect our fair share of reward." Sage interrupted the Doctor. "Not one Lungmen dollars short, right?"
The Doctor opened up the lock briefcase, that her assistance was holding. Piles of Lungmen dollars stacking neatly within the case.
"That's all we had." The Doctor closed the briefcase as her assistance walked forward with the briefcase.
"We will be taking that." Sage placed his hand on the handle of the briefcase. He could feel a grip of hesitation on the assistance side. "Hey bunny girl, would you kindly let go off the briefcase?"
"Amiya." The Doctor shook her head as she calls out to her assistance, who finally released her grip on the briefcase.
"How bad is the current situation?" The vendor walked forward, snatching the briefcase off Sage's hands and holding it in her right hand.
"The Reunion beginning to increase their attacks on both factions turf and civilians."
"I meant Rhodes Island." The vendor shook the briefcase for a moment. "Judging from current situation, your forces are stretched thin. You tried to defending all the sides at once but fail to see the trap laid before you. Using less experience volunteer operators is a giant mistake."
The Doctor was slightly surprise about vendor words.
"Who are you?"
"Well, I go by tons of codename back in my days. I suppose you could call me, Undertaker."
Undertaker gave the briefcase back to the Doctor.
"Boss, those are our rewards that you hand back to them!" Sage was surprised by the actions.
Berserker took an interest as he laid his kit aside and stood beside them.
"Oh no, no, no, no." Sage panicked. "We can't just go around helping people out of the kindness of our heart."
"We aren't." Undertaker smiled, which gave Sage an uneasy feeling on what she was plotting to do. "This is a rather unique situation that would benefit both of us."
"I was afraid that you would say that." Sage hung his head.
"Doctor of Rhodes Island. We are offering our service to fight the Reunion." Undertaker took out a contract paper from her pouch, which listed all the demands for a mercenary company.
Some of the demands were a room to set up shop and resting area, food was to be provided for free. Prices for mercenaries' operations would varies. The last pointer was the usage of communication devices without the need of going through proper channels.
"Of course, if you are generous with the shares, I may be able to call in extra favours from my contact list."
The Doctor and assistance Amiya looked at each other after reading the contract.
[Rhodes island]
"Worst. Deal. Ever. Of. All. Times." Sage rested on the bed while the others unpacked their items. "We should have taken the money."
"You would have returned it back; your eyes had betrayed you when you turned around with the briefcase." Undertaker set up her stall.
"Tch, my eyes did no such thing." Sage rolled to the side, with his back-facing Undertaker.
"Food." Berserker said as he sat down. "Tons of meat and vegetable."
"Coming right up." Undertaker place the food happily into the hotpot. "Are you going to sleep at there or are you coming to eat?"
Sage pulls himself up from the bed and drag towards the seat. "Double the Fruit punch concentration."
It wasn't easy for Sage to open up the idea of working under any factions. Afterall, he did have some undesirable experience on the previous employment.
Same goes to Berserker.
"What's the plan?" Sage finally reason with himself as he looked at the other two.
"As far as I can tell, the Reunion isn't giving up the fight." Undertaker dipped another item into the hotpot. "Their soldiers are endless. The further the war drags on, the worst it looks for any factions."
"That meant?" Sage tilts his head to the right.
"Merger. Hostile takeover."
"Bingo, Berserker." Undertaker added another dish into Berserker portion. "We buy out the crumbling factions, unifying them under our own banner and ideas."
"While using Rhodes Island as a front to keep a low profile." Sage eyes widen in excitement. "That is why you gave them such a tempting offer."
"However, in order for our plans to be successful, Rhodes Island must not fall."
"There is one problem." Sage lifted up his half drank glass. "It is true that there are elite operators helping out in operations, however, most of them barely had any experience in combat. Going on five or six mission does not count as experience."
"Lack of will to fight or blood lust." Berserker continued while resting his head on the table.
"Yes, that too. They are only content with defending. Some of them even missed their shots on purpose. As if they are giving out warning shots using the whole ammunition."
"What do you suggest?" Undertaker looked the map hanging on the wall.
"Take out the rookies and starts training them, pick and choose our battles from now on." Sage placed the glass onto the table as Undertaker poured more fruit punch into the glass.
"Divide and Conquer." Berserker raised his cup in the air while his head still planted onto the table.
"Now we all in agreement." Undertaker poured one drink for her own. "As for me, I will locate our long-lost companions."
"Cheers"
"Cheers"
"Cheers"
The three gently clash their glass cups and laughed.