A/N: Ditto. Thanks to Meerkhawk for favoriting.
Scout whistled to himself as he "relieved" himself on a tree. He doesn't suspect that he was followed and now was being watched by someone.
And that someone is not a human.
From a nearby bush, a snow-colored wolf watches Scout. Its golden eyes carefully watched his every movement.
Scout finished and started to head back when he heard rustling. He froze as his head snapped to the source of the noise. He instinctively took out his pistol as he slowly walked to the bush he through it came from. His hand barely touched it when something jumped out and tackled the Bostonian to the ground.
"Idon'twannadieIdon'twannadieIdont'wannadie!" Scout shouted as he flailed on the ground. After a while he noticed that nothing was happening to him and opened his eyes.
And found himself staring face-to-face with a white wolf.
No check that, a white wolf hoodie. Below that was a face of a young woman who is around Scout's age. Her gold eyes bored into Scout's brown eyes. She actually looked pretty cute to Scout.
"You're funny," she said.
"Uh, yeah, um…can I get up now?"
The girl tilted her head as if in thought before saying,
"Why?"
"Ah, cause you're sitting on me,"
"So?"
"I want to be able to stand up again and walk,"
"Ohhhhh, but why?"
Scout sighed; this was going to take a while.
Meanwhile
"Ok here we go…one, two, three!" Hanna yanked down both sides of the trap, as she pried it open, Sniper was able to quickly pull out his leg.
"I am sure glad that thing didn't take my leg off," he said as Medic came over to check on him.
"Its not supposed to," said Hanna as she reset the trap. "What's the use of a trap if you're not going to be trapped in it?"
"So Hanna what are you doing here all alone here and not back in the base?" Tina asked.
"I didn't come out here alone Tina, I brought Katrina with me,"
"And where is she?"
"Ah, we kinda split up and…"
Tina sighed. "You know to never split up when you're with Katrina right?"
"Katrina?" asked Engi. "Is she another one of your sisters?"
"No, Katrina is one of our teammates, a Lupan,"
"A what now?" asked Sniper.
"A Lupan is a descendant of Lupa, the she-wolf that nursed Romulus and Reamus, the founders of Rome. To put it simply, she's a wolf that can turn into a human,"
"That's a bloody werewolf!" shouted Demo.
"Not exactly, werewolves are considered Lycans, descendants of Lycan, the guy that tricked Zeus and got turned into a wolf. Lycans are the stereotypical werewolves you see and know,"
"Are Lupans dangerous?" asked Spy.
"Depends, generally Lupans are usually indifferent or friendly to humans, but they can get aggressive if threatened,"
A loud crash and the sound of bushes and twigs being snapped startled the group.
"That's not Katrina right?" said Medic.
"No…Hanna what were you and Katrina looking for?"
"A Lycan," she said as she readied her rifle. "Sneaky-ass bastard, even Katrina couldn't find him. Wonder why he's coming out now,"
"I think I have an inkling," she pointed to the mercs.
"Ohhh, shit. This is not looking good,"
"Something bad gonna happen?" said Demo.
"Boys, ready your weapons," Tina said as she lit her hands. "I think you're getting a crash course on Werewolf Fighting 101,"
After going in circles for what seemed to be an eternity, Scout was able to persuade the girl to get off him. After he got up he was able to get a better look of her.
The girl had on what looked to be an unzipped white sweatshirt with a white hood that resembled a wolf, a black-colored two top, and black pants. Her hood was up and she had black hair.
From their initial conversation, Scout could tell that this girl was an airhead or that's what he thought. Her looks screamed confidence as well as determination.
"So, what's your name?" he asked.
"Katrina," she said with a blank stare. Scout couldn't tell if this was cute or creepy.
"Well then Katrina, I'm Scout, and what are you doing out here all alone in the dark woods?"
Suddenly Katrina leapt to her feet and grabbed Scout's hand.
"You came with friends right?" she said with a hint of nervousness.
"Uh yeah, my team-"
"They're in trouble, a Lycan is with them,"
"A Ly- what now?"
"Werewolf," was all she said as she took off, Scout in tow.
The werewolf was about as tall as Hanna and Heavy, maybe even taller, and hit just as hard as a train. It had silver fur that glowed eerily glowed in the lantern light.
"Ok first lesson with werewolves," shouted Hanna as she knocked the canine back with a bone-shattering punch. "You won't get turned into one unless you get bitten by one, so don't worry if you get sliced up by one,"
"Hanna!" Tina said. "You're supposed to be encouraging!" she scolded as she torched the werewolf.
Currently the mercs were cowering on the side holding their weapons close to them. At the sight of the werewolf, each man immediately froze up, and forcing the sisters to cover for them.
"And I thought that pumpkin head was scary," said Demo.
"Are you seriously scared of this thing?" Hanna asked with a grunt as the wolf charged right into her, its jaws snapping dangerously close to her face. "You are mercs right?"
"Ja, but the only things we faced were humans," said Medic. "Not these mythical things,"
"You faced a mage, a floating eyeball, and an axe-wielding headless horseman," she said as she pushed the werewolf off her. The wolf then was t-boned by a charging Tina. "And I believe they are harder to fight off then this thing,"
"HANNA!"
"Wha-"
SMACK!
The werewolf threw Tina at Hanna and she collided hard into the taller sister, knocking both to the ground.
"ATTACK!" shouted Soldier as he fired off a rocket. "FOR AMERICA!"
The rocket hit the werewolf, engulfing it in a plume of smoke and fire.
"Haha! Your canine ass is no match for American rockets!"
A roar quickly silenced the patriot who sweatdropped.
"Aw hell," he said as the wolf launched itself at him.
"WOAH! Can you slow down or something?" Scout said as he and Katrina dodged tree after tree.
"No time," Katrina said. "Time is of essence,"
A roar caught their attention.
"Wolf must be angry,"
"No kidding,"
"FLYING NOOO!"
Katrina quickly pushed Scout to the ground and hit the deck as Soldier soared over them and into a tree.
"RAAAAGH!"
"Fuck," said Scout as the werewolf charged into their view.
Katrina kept a stoic expression as she stood up and simply watched as the werewolf charged at them.
"Go help your friend," she said quietly. "I'll deal with the Lycan,"
"Are you kidding? Do you not see-"
Two very sharp, silver colored metal claws appeared on both of her hands.
"Oh, ah, I'll go help Soldier, yah…" Scout said as he went over to check on Soldier.
Katrina charged head on to the werewolf and swung a clawed hand at it while it did the same to her. She landed a hit on the wolf with her right claw, creating four large gashes on its chest, but also received similar wounds on her chest as well. She winced when she turned around to face the werewolf, and snarled at it; the werewolf doing the same.
Meanwhile the group was able to catch up to the others. Medic hurried over to Soldier, while the others readied their weapons.
"Hey who's the Sheila?" Sniper asked as he fired off a round, but missed the fast-moving werewolf.
"That's Katrina," said Hanna as she aimed her rifle. "KATRINA! TAKEDOWN!"
Katrina nodded as she started to move faster and faster around the werewolf and creating afterimages. When she stopped, it fell to its knees as its legs started bleeding.
"Gotcha," she pulled the trigger. There was a flash of light that blinded everyone, when everyone could see again; the werewolf was nowhere to be seen.
"Aye! Where did it go?" said Demo as he looked around.
"Relax, I just sent it back to our base no biggie," said Hanna.
"But you're monster hunters," said Sniper. "Aren't you supposed to kill things?"
"Not all things we kill, Sniper," said Tina. "Certain creatures and monsters are not bad to the bone and could just be aggravated or under influence of something,"
"In other words, we only kill things that are bonafide bad, who knows if the werewolf went crazy because someone mind controlled it?" added Hanna.
"You sound like a police force of some kind," Sniper deadpanned.
"Hey the more monster friends you have, the easier the job gets, what can I say?"
"Um Hanna?" Katrina asked.
"Yes Katrina?"
"Is everything spinning?"
"No…omigod you're hurt Kat!" Hanna only now noticed her wounds.
"I'm getting dizzy…" Katrina soon passed out and fell to the ground. She started to glow and in her place was a snow-colored wolf.
"Did girl just turn into wolf?" Heavy asked.
"Fucking furball…" Hanna growled as she carefully over the wolf. Blood stained its white coat. "You, whitecoat, get over here," she said to Medic.
"Me? B-b-but I treat people not-"
Hanna's expression quickly darkened.
"I dare you to finish that sentence. I. Fucking. Dare. You,"
Medic gulped, "Ah…let me check on her shall I?" he said as he went over to check on the wolf.
Hanna's expression softened, and she sighed, "Normally she could heal herself, but wounds from other Lycans and Lupans negate that ability," she rubbed a hand over her face. "Poor Kat…"
"What's with Hanna's obsession over Katrina?" Scout whispered to Tina.
"Hanna is, well, overprotective of Katrina. Since…she's an orphan," she explained. "You see, about a year or two ago, we came upon a Lupan village to find everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, slaughtered," she took a moment to look at Katrina. "Katrina was the only living thing in that village, a baby too. Hanna was the one that convinced us to take her with us, and she sure is a gentle giant,"
"That's horrible," he said. "What caused all of this?"
Tina shrugged. "Dunno, never found any evidence of a particular creature or human that could've done it,"
"Well," said Medic as he wrapped a bandage over the wounds. "No organs were punctured, that's a start, but I'm not sure if she'll need stiches,"
"I-I think Kelly should be able to do that without the stiches part," Hanna said as she sniffled a tear, she shook off the tear and recomposed herself. "We should be heading back now, it's getting late, follow me," she said as she picked up Katrina and started walking.
Some time later the group entered a clearing with a large rock in the center.
"Tina would you?" said Hanna. "My hands are kinda full,"
Tina went up to the rock and knocked on a part of it. The stone slid back and to the side to reveal a keypad. She typed a code in and the rock began to move, it moved slightly so that a large hole was seen.
"Ok, who wants to go first?" she asked. "No one? Guess I'm first,"
Tina jumped inside the hole, followed by Hanna a short time later.
"Was…it…necessary for the loop?" Sniper asked, his face slightly green from the slide down.
"How…could… anyone… not get sick on that?" asked Scout, who looked similar to Sniper.
"Heavy would like to go on slide again!"
"See I told you they would like the slide!" said Hanna.
Tina grunted and rolled her eyes.
Aside from Scout and Sniper, everyone else had a great time on the slide. The group landed in a large hallway outfitted with lighting that hung from the ceiling. It almost looked like they were in a castle of some sorts.
"Nice place you got," said Engi as he looked around.
"Glad you like it then,"
A new voice caught the mercs' attention. They looked up to find another female leaning against a wall. She had black hair in a bun. She wore a long sleeved turtleneck under a blue vest with black shorts and brown boots. She had a harness with two pistol holsters on each side.
"Uh did anyone see her walk in?" Scout asked.
"Hello, Tina," the newcomer said.
"Sup, Kelly," said Tina.
"So these are the mercs you talk about so highly about," she said. "A diverse group I should say,"
"Guys this is Kelly, another one of my sisters…"
"KellyKellyKellyKellyKelly!" Hanna interrupted as she ran up to her. "Pleasepleasepleaseplease, help Kat, she's hurt!"
"Hanna, chill," Kelly said. "Katrina's fin-"
"She got wounded by the werewolf," Hanna quickly said.
"Oh," Kelly sighed. "I'll make sure she's ok, you just go and help Tina with the introductory and crap," she took Katrina from her and disappeared in a blue flash.
The mercs were again speechless at the sight.
"You know you all are going to catch flies if you keep your mouth open like that right?" Tina said. "C'mon we still have lots of things to do,"
The team was led down the hall into a large room, the room was particularly cluttered with books, papers, and other assorted items. But what stood out was the large array of monitors, keyboards, and printers that adorned the back of the room.
"And you guys say my room's messy," said Scout. He spotted a yellow ball on the ground and proceeded to pick it up.
"I would put that down if I were you," said Tina.
"Why?" asked Scout as he tossed it up and down.
"That's an acid bomb,"
"…" Scout's eye twitched as he slowly put the ball back down on the ground.
"VANESSA! WE'RE HERE!" shouted Hanna.
Silence.
"Who's Vanessa?" Medic whispered to Tina.
"VANESSA!" Hanna shouted again
"She's another sister of mine,"
"Wow, you have a big family,"
More silence.
"Shoot where is she?"
"Right here,"
Everyone jumped at the voice that was behind him or her and quickly turned around. A woman with short brown hair was leaning on the doorway. She wore square shaped glasses, a red tank top under a white lab coat, brown pants, and gray sneakers.
"Jeezus, what is with you people and sneaking up on us?" said Scout. "I swear I wouldn't be surprised if you're related to Spy,"
"Really Vanessa?" Tina said.
She pushed up her glasses. "Well, when you work around magical beings you learn a trick or two," she said, ignoring the remark. "So these are your co-workers, right Tina?"
"Yes,"
"Hm, ok then," she said. "Now I assume you all know what we do right?"
"Yeah no shit we know what you do," said Scout. "Getting attack by demons and werewolves kinda tells us already,"
"Demons?" Vanessa looked at Tina. "What do they mean?"
"We were attack by an imp hoard and a berserker earlier today," Tina replied. "They handled the imps well, but I needed to step in for the berserker,"
"Broad daylight attack…sonofbitches getting more and more bold," Vanessa mumbled a little too loud.
"What do you mean getting more bold?" asked Spy.
Vanessa mumbled a curse. "Normally, monster attacks happen during the night, since they don't want to draw attention to themselves. But recently, they have been attacking during the day for reasons I do not know,"
A brief silence shrouded the group.
"Anyways!" Vanessa said after a while. "Nice job on grabbing that Lycan, I half expected one of you to be mauled by the thing," she said pointing to the mercs.
"W-w-w-what?" Scout sputtered.
"VANESSA!" Tina scolded.
Vanessa laughed. "I'm kidding bro. I wasn't expecting you to be mauled at all!"
"Oh, well that's a-,"
"I was expecting one of you to get killed!" after she said that she let out a really evil laugh, which caused the mercs to back away from her.
"Eh, don't worry about that," said Tina as she facepalmed. "Vanessa is quite…eccentric to put it nicely,"
"Are you sure she's related to you?" Medic whispered to Tina.
"Yes…yes she is," Tina deadpanned.
Hanna went over to Vanessa and slapped her on the back of her head, knocking askew her glasses.
Vanessa mouthed "thanks" before fixing her glasses and clearing her throat. "Sorry about that, now back to the Lycan, Astra is currently interviewing it right now and she should be out any moment," she turned to Hanna. "And Katrina is doing fine right now Hanna, passed by Kelly on my way here,"
Hanna let out a sigh of relief. "Well that's a relief,"
"I also assume Tina told you what you guys are here for right?" asked Vanessa.
Everyone nodded.
"Good, because you all are going on your first mission right now,"
"WHAT!" all the mercs screamed. Even Tina looked surprised.
"Woah, woah, woah," said Engi. "That is kinda jumping the gun right there missie,"
"Vanessa!" Tina said as she went over to her. "These guys are not ready to jump into battle this fast. They barely won against a werewolf!"
"Look Tina, these men have to be ready at any moment, so they have to learn fast. No rest for the wicked, remember?"
"Fine, but if it's too deadly for them, I'm pulling them out,"
"Relax it's an easy mission," she cleared her throat to get the mercs' attention. "So are you boys ready?"
The mercs shook their heads.
"Well too fucking bad, you're doing it or else…" she snapped her fingers and a large mountain of a man, taller than Heavy and Hanna, in a suit of armor and wielding a halberd materialized behind her. He had an aura of darkness surrounding him. "…Hank will deal with you, or you won't be paid, which ever is easier,"
"I think I pissed my pants…again," said Scout.
A/N: UUUUUGH! Sorry mates if you wanted to see Astra here, I wanted to introduce at least everyone, but time is not on my side and a paper for summer school is due soon! Hence why I had to cut it. Looks like you'll have to wait until the hiatus is over to see Astra. Goddammit!
'Katrina pops out of nowhere in her human form'
Katrina: Hi there...
Even through I don't like you guys coming in here, you are so goddamn adorable for me to be angry at you. 'pets Katrina'
Scout: Oh so the wolfgirl is ok but not me?
Yeah so scat! 'materializes a BLU Sentry, which targets Scout'
Scout: You suck! 'runs away as a rocket flies over his head'
A/N: On another note I'm leaving up to you guys on what the mercs should face. The only rule is that the monster should be mythical or cryptic, so no monsters from cartoons, anime, video games, etc. Also if you want to go an extra mile, why don't you give it some personality? It may end up as part of the cast.
Oh and if you're wondering here's the character's ages:
Tina: 30
Vanessa: 27
Kelly: 25
Hanna: 24
Katrina: 3 (in human terms: 21)
Astra: 537 (in human terms: 26)
Till next time,
-D.W