The five mercenaries approached the vehicle. The heavy carried a large bedsheet on a pole as a flag of truce. They looked around apprehensively. Spy cleared his throat.
"Shall we?"
They walked up to a small iron door marked "Emergency egress hatch-Humans only." Engineer regarded the door apprehensively whilst the frenchman knocked on it. The door rang emptily. It creaked slowly open. The comrades entered.
The walls were slick with moisture, flecked with rust. The air was stale, and smelled of despair and electricity. Coming to an intersection, they were seized by two Manndroids that looked like the Pyro. They picked up the mercenaries by the scruffs of their necks and carried them off. Heavy grabbed the Engineer, who was trying to shrink into the corner.
After an eternity of being dragged and manhandled, they arrived in the bowels of the vehicle. There was a panelled wooden door, with large brass door knobs. The air here was a bit less stale, and the walls no longer glistened with wetness. The Manndroids dumped the five comrades and opened the doors reverentially. Inside, there was a sumtuously decorated office. There were leather bound books stacked in dark mahogany shelves, and a large desk with a green glass reading lamp. The wing backed chair behind it faced away from them, with static flickering over a television screen behing it, throwing it into silhouette.
"Ah, so you have decided to accept my little... proposal. Wise. I can see you aren't as stupid as your reputation would suggest."
It was much quieter and a bit more less powerful, but it was definitely the same voice that had spoken on the tannoy earlier that day. The chair didn't turn around. Heavy breathed hard.
"What is object you want?"
There was a slight chuckle.
"Patience, my large russian friend," said the voice of Grey Mann. Heavy's face went tomato red and he lunged forwards. The Manndroids reacted with lightning speed, grabbling his muscle-bound arms and twisting viciously. Heavy yelped and threw himself backwards.
"As I was saying, I need you to find me something. Something that hasn't been found for almost a century. I want you to find...the First One."
Spy rolled his eyes.
"Ze first what?"
That chuckle again.
"Your- ahem- how does your German friend say? 'Hard-hatted friend', he understands."
Sure enough, the Texan's face had lit up with sudden interest. Heavy grunted.
"What is shadowy baby man talking about?", he said, looking at his small friend.
"A...a century ago, my grandaddy buried a secret somewhere. He called it the First One. It's... a sentry gun."
Engineer waited for the significance to fall in. Unfortunately, none of the others had heard of the legendary First One.
"It's said to have incredible powers; it's supposed to work forever, longer than the Universe itself."
The Heavy looked back at the chair.
"So you want us to find sentry. Where do we start?"
There was a smile in the voice this time.
"You must start your search in New York. Go to the Chain-Smoker bar. Ask for Smelly Lou. He will point you in the right direction. Now leave me. Your transport is arranged."
And they were marched outside and dumped in the sun. With 46 hours to retrieved the first sentry gun.