All characters and content of this work belongs to their respective owners, I own nothing other than my Original Character and the plot of this story.
Sniper drove the van out into the New Mexico desert, Lady Emeraldblade, Soldier, and Demoman in toll, seemingly to an unknown destination. All the while, all of them remained eerily silent. During that time, Lady Emeraldblade pondered what was inside that nylon box the three of them were so determined to protect.
After a while, the van seemed to come to a stop, when she looked outside, Lady Emeraldblade noticed what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse in the middle of nowhere. Not long afterwards, the Sniper pulled out what looked like a smart tablet, before pulling up a screen showing a man whom Emeraldblade didn't recognize.
"Hello Sniper!" the man on the other end greeted, "Did you and the team retrieve ze package?"
"Yeah doc," Sniper answered, "But the Soldier and the Demoman had a bit of a run in with a strange girl back in town. Soldier thinks she's important somehow."
"Hmm…then bring her and ze package in the base now, schnell!"
Sniper turned off the screen, before a door big enough to fit the van inside suddenly opened up, Sniper proceeded to bring the van forward into the garage before the door closed shut immediately afterwards.
Once everyone was safety inside, Sniper, Soldier, and Demoman stepped out of the van.
"Well aren't you comin' mate?" Sniper asked Lady Emeraldblade.
Lady Emeraldblade nodded before proceeding out of the van to join the rest of the men. They navigated through what appeared to be a run-down building that appeared to have not been used for decades. Eventually, the four of them stopped in front of a heavily secured door that required some sort of passcode to enter what lay beyond it. Soldier proceeded forward and began typing in a code on a keypad adjacent to the door.
"1-1-1…uh…1" Soldier murmured quietly.
Suddenly, the keypad beeped an approving tone before unlocking the door, causing it to open slowly.
The four of them proceeded inside, emerging into a small landing with a walled stairway leading down to a lower floor. Each of the men took turns walking down the stairs one by one, before Emeraldblade followed close behind. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, the four entered a large bunker consisting of many corridors and rooms. Soldier motioned Emeraldblade to follow him as he led her and the other two men to one room in particular.
"It's time you met the rest of the team." Soldier told her.
He then opened up the door, revealing a large room consisting of a media center complete with and dining area and a smaller room beyond an archway that appeared to be a kitchen.
On a couch just ahead and to the right of the doorway were two men competing in some sort of video game on a large wall-mounted TV.
"Ha!" a small, skinny man wearing a cap with headphones, a red t-shirt, silver dog tags, and a pair of cleats chuckled, "Nice hussle tons-o'-fun, next time eat a salad."
"No!" the other, much larger one with a balding and wearing a red shirt with a bandolier groaned in agony, "How could this happen?"
"Ahem," Soldier coughed to catch the two men's attention, causing them to put down their controllers and turn to face his direction. "Scout, Heavy, I would like the both of you to meet Lady Emeraldblade."
"Lady…Emeraldblade...*pheeeew!*" Scout mustered up the tendency not to laugh. "What kind of name is that?"
Heavy proceeded to slap Scout hard on the back as a form of discipline.
"Never, NEVER, treat guest with disrespect Scout!" he scolded him.
"Yeah, yeah sure" Scout replied, rolling his eyes.
Soldier began to gesture Emeraldblade once more "Follow me."
He once again beckoned Emeraldblade to follow him into the kitchen nearby as Sniper and Demoman stayed back in the dining area and placed the nylon package on top of the table. Upon entering the smaller room, Lady Emeraldblade was met by another three men, two of which were trying to fix an appliance on a nearby countertop next to the range, while a third was idly smoking a cigarette against the corner of a large refrigerator.
"Just…about…there!" A short man in a hard hat and welding goggles said, "Blender's all fixed."
"Oohoohoo!" a taller one wearing glasses and a vest and tie reacted, "Just in time for dinner too I see!"
"You have done well Engineer." the third man, who was dressed sharply in the nines in a suit and tie with a ski mask covering much of face replied.
"Aw, shucks" the Engineer modestly rubbed his head.
"Boys, I would like you three to meet our new acquaintance, Lady Emeraldblade." Soldier piped up to introduce the girl to the three men.
"Ooh! You must be the fräulein Sniper was talking about over the video call; I'm the Medic."
Emeraldblade shooked his hand in gratitude, "Nice to meet you."
"Ah, bonsoir mon amie. Call me the Spy."
The Spy proceeded to take Lady Emeraldblade's hand and kiss it.
"Ugh, it's a pleasure to meet you as well."
"And I am the Engineer" the Engineer introduced himself "I mainly do the handy work around here, maintenance in all."
"I see." Emeraldblade replied.
"Well the moment has passed; I assume you have something important you delivered Soldier." Spy mentioned.
"Huh? Oh yeah, the package!" Soldier remembered, before raising his hand and calling to get all of the mercs' attention "Men, last one to the table must lock up everything tonight!
The mercs as well as Lady Emeraldblade gathered around the large dining table, there laid flat at the center of it was the familiar nylon package that Demoman was guarding previously.
"Alright men, feast your eyes on the objective at hand!" Soldier spoke up.
He then proceeded to pull a zipper located around the side of the package. Upon, opening it, the mercenaries eyes lit up in excitement, while Emeraldblade raised an eyebrow in confusion. There, inside the package were three large pizza box at the center, with an unmarked bag next to it.
"I present you all, one large pepperoni pizza, one large cheese pizza, and one large sausage pizza to cover all our appetites!" Soldier joyously commented, before turning to face the Heavy. "And for you Heavy, I got you one specially made "sandvich" from the local deli just as you asked.
Heavy smiled, "You did well Soldier, sandvich make me strong."
Soldier nodded, before turning back to the center of the table and raising his arms out.
"Everyone, you all now have permission to dine!"
Upon hearing Soldier's command, all of the mercs grabbed a slice of pizza while Demoman brought out several 2-liter bottles of soda so that everyone could quench down their thirst while they ate.
"Nom Nom Nom Om Nom!" Heavy devoured his sandvich.
Only one person didn't appear to be eating: Lady Emeraldblade, as she was still confused as to what just happened.
"Wait, the package that you were so protective of was just you guy's take-out dinner?" she asked.
"Affirmative!" Soldier answered her, "We mercs need to eat you know."
"Say lass, there's a few slices left, and Heavy isn't going to eat them, it's yours if you want it mate." Sniper pointed out to Lady Emeraldblade.
She sighed, "Well, I am hungry, so I guess I'll take it."
And with that, she took the final slices of pizza and consumed them alongside her new colleagues. After they were done, Engineer went into the kitchen to prepare everyone a dessert with the newly fixed blender, when he came out a moment later, he brought out nine, cold strawberry smoothies with tiny umbrellas inside them. Each of the mercs took a smoothie, with the Engineer delivering the final one to Emeraldblade personally.
"Here you go partner, enjoy."
Emeraldblade smiled and took the smoothie from the platter, before sipping it alongside the other mercs.
As everyone was finishing dessert, Emeraldblade began to ask a few questions out of curiosity.
"So it's only you eight down here, no one else?"
"That's right partner" Engineer replied.
"There used to be nine of us at one point," Medic continued.
"Who was the ninth mercenary?" Emeraldblade asked.
"We called them the Pyro due to their fascination for fire." Spy answered, "They wore a mysterious gas mask and carried around a flamethrower as their weapon of choice."
Spy then took a moment to shiver in anxiety.
"One shutters to imagine what inhumane thoughts lied behind that mask…oh god…"
"So, what ever happened to them?"
"They disappeared many years ago, and we never seen or heard from them ever since."
"You mentioned you are ex-Mann Co. employees, what exactly happened to the company?"
"We were hired by Mann Co. back in 1968 to fight off a competing branch of the company in a conflict that came to be known as the Gravel War." Soldier replied, "After the war got nowhere, a previous owner named Gray Mann tried to usurp the CEO position from our hirer Saxton Hale, he sent an army of robots to invade the company, but we ultimately gained the upper hand. However, Gray Mann tricked Saxton Hale into fighting his daughter Olivia, which Saxton Hale mercilessly surrendered to immediately. In the years that followed, Olivia made numerous bad corporate decisions, which eventually caused the weapons manufacturing company to file for bankruptcy, that all happened nearly half a century ago."
"This bunker lies beneath the ruins of one of the subsidiary branches that handled shipping and distribution of Mann Co. products back in the day." Spy chimed in.
"So wait, you guys are all over 50 years old? How have you all not aged a single day?"
"That's where your question about who Merasmus is comes in." Solder continued, "After Mann Co. went bankrupt, the mercs and I decided to turn to more personal issues from our past. One of those issues was a vendetta I…I mean we have against the evil sorcerer Merasmus."
"What exactly did he do?"
"HE TOOK ME EYE!" Demoman cried out in despair, before beginning to cry. Heavy came over to his friend and patted him on the back to comfort him.
"Sheesh, sorry to hear that." Emeraldblade apologized.
"Demoman has been suffering nonstop since he lost it by the wizard when he was a child," Engineer mentioned, "The other competing team in the Gravel War regularly taunted him about it."
"In addition, we're cursed to live forever under one of Merasmus' spells. Kind of a blessing if you ask me." Sniper replied.
"Do you know where Merasmus is?"
"Unfortunately, we haven't seen him in many years." Medic replied.
Emeraldblade sighed in disappointment "Great, there goes my only lead to finding out where he may be."
"The question I'm wondering is why are you so fascinated in our old adversary?" Spy questioned the female warrior.
"Yeah," Soldier agreed, "You mentioned that back in Roswell."
"I'm trying to stop an evil demonic knight named Nightmare from bringing about the end of all life across the Universe as we know it." Lady Emeraldblade explained to the mercs, causing them to react with concern.
"Ugh, uh-no, this sounds very bad." Medic said.
Emeraldblade nodded "According to my adoptive mother Rosalina, she mentioned that Nightmare had three minions who were working by his side, one of them she described as being "a sorcerer", when I heard Soldier mentioning that Merasmus fit that initial description, I thought perhaps he may be whom I am searching for. We need to stop each of Nightmare's minions so that we can prevent the inevitable cataclysm Nightmare is striving to accomplish."
There was a moment of silence, before suddenly Medic remembered something.
"Hey Engie, didn't you tell me the other day that you were working on some sort of device in your laboratory that has something to do with Merasmus?"
The Engineer took a moment to recount what Medic was mentioning, before his face lit up with excitement. "Wait, that just might work!"
"Well, what are we waiting for? Perhaps it could help us find Merasmus!" Emeraldblade replied.
"Eager like a beaver, I'm starting to think I am going to like you girl." Engineer replied.
And with that Engineer, accompanied by the Medic, led Lady Emeraldblade to his laboratory.
Inside the makeshift lab was a large assortment of blueprints, components, and projects that the Engineer had been working on for what seemed like forever. Emeraldblade was astonished and curious as to what each invention and device was capable of doing, but Engineer insisted to continue following him towards one particular gadget.
Eventually, he stopped in front of a small workbench covered with a white tarp, with Medic and Emeraldblade standing beside him.
"Feast your eyes on this." He proclaimed.
He proceeded to pull the tarp off of the bench, revealing a small device. It appeared to look like a combination of a car GPS and a Geiger counter.
"What is it?" Emeraldblade asked.
"This young lady is my Necro-Detector." Engineer explained, "It can detect individual activity of the undead in any part of the world."
"Oohhoho, such brilliance!" Medic chackled.
"But will it help us find Merasmus?"
"While we won't be able to detect his presence directly, it could however help us if he is planning on raising some sort of undead army, after all he is a necromancer. Here let me show you."
Engineer turned on the Necro-Detector, and sure enough a screen popped up showing the vicinity they were in on a regional map.
"As you can see, there aren't any blips for miles around, but if we scroll around or expand the map some more, maybe we can find some."
Engineer began scrolling around the area, before noticing something out of the ordinary. There appeared to be several blips located in an area just southeast of Denver, Colorado.
"Oh my god." Engineer said in amazement. "That's a lot of blips."
"Where are blips located precisely?" Medic questioned.
"Hmm…" Emeraldblade studied the device, zooming in on the location in particular. Eventually the location's name came up on the screen, "Cheesman Park, that's where the activity is originating, and I bet that's where we'll find Merasmus."
"Now hold on, let me see if there are any other blips in the area first." Engineer explained, before pondering through the entire map of the United States, sure enough no other blips appeared, not even on the entire map of the world. "Well now, I guess this is our only lead."
"Ooh! I can't wait!" Medic reacted with excitement, before becoming more sinister in tone "Let's go practice medicine."
"Come on, let's tell the others about our finding." Emeraldblade motioned the two mercs to follow her.
The three returned back to the break room, where sure enough the rest of the mercenaries were gathered watching Scout take on Soldier in another video game.
"What's the matter, you freakin' stupid?" Scout chastised his comrade.
"Gah!" Soldier shook his controller violently, "I may be familiar with the art of war, but not with the art of video games."
"Everyone, I have some news about Merasmus' whereabouts." Emeraldblade proclaimed, catching all of the mercs' attention immediately, Scout even paused the game in order to listen to the woman in front of him. "Engineer's device has detected a concentration of what appears to be a swarm of the undead located near Denver, Colorado. If what he told me is true, then that's our best chance at finding Merasmus."
"Denver? That's like hundreds of miles north of here mate. It'll take a day's worth of travel to get up there by our van." Sniper commented.
"Yeah, and the van can only hold about four of us at most," Scout continued, "Not all of us can travel there at once.
Engineer thought for a moment, before had idea popped up into his head. "Or maybe we can…my teleporters could get the rest of us there pronto once we reach our destination.
"But which of us will travel there directly, and who should stay back and prepare?" Spy wondered.
"Since it's my mission to stop Nightmare, so I'll go by means of the van." Emeraldblade answered.
"Then that means I'll have to go too," Engineer joined in, "I'll need to keep us up to date with the blip activity that way we don't lose our only lead."
"You'll need a driver to get to Denver, so that means I'll have to go too to get you two there." Sniper chimed in.
"And in the case of an emergency, I'll also join you three." Medic replied.
"Then it's settled," Soldier exclaimed, "You four will travel up to Denver, and once you arrive, Engie you construct the teleporter so that the rest of us can join you and kick Merasmus' ass."
"Alrighty then!" Engineer replied, giving his de facto leader a thumbs up.
"Men, pack your things!" Soldier rallied everyone together, "Merasmus is a formidable opponent, so we'll need all the manpower to defeat him!"
"Yes!" Demoman chimed in!
"Da!" Heavy also exclaimed.
"Ja!" Medic shouted, "I cannot wait!"
Spy meanwhile wasn't as overly enthusiastic and sighed "Well, if you say so."
Soldier then turned to Lady Emeraldblade, "I really hope what you said about Merasmus is true, because if he is on board with Nightmare's plan of destroying the Universe, then we can't let them win by any means."
Emeraldblade nodded in agreement "Trust me, you won't be disappointed."