BEGINNING OF STORY
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Lulu opened the door and marched into the room. The others followed with Bryce taking up the rear. The room, lit by a single light bulb, was empty except for a table upon which sat a cylindrical device. When they approached it, out popped what resembled an eye. “I assume you are here for the job?” asked a highly synthesized voice.
Lulu folded her arms and stood up straight. “That we are, little robot thing.”
The eye seemed to scan the four of them. It creeped Doug out, as he always had a fear of robots. “I will require you to infiltrate a military research base in the land of Asmod and retrieve some data. The information on the facility is ready for your download.”
“Bryce, handle that,” Lulu sharply commanded.
Bryce took a handheld computer and connected a cable to the robot. After a couple of seconds, Bryce disconnected the cable and checked the screen. “The information is here. I also sent you our bank account information.”
“The initial ten percent has been transferred,” the robot replied. “Since we are done, I will self-destruct.”
“Then I guess we’ll be going.” Lulu smiled and then quickly led everyone out of the room.
Charlene shut the door behind them and looked at Bryce. “Ten percent?”
Bryce put his computer away. “For starting costs. The rest–” An explosion in the other room interrupted Bryce. “The rest we get upon completion.”
Charlene looked furious. “The rest of what?”
Bryce turned to Lulu. “You know how you said you wished you’d get mall certificates for all the battles you fight? Well, that’s sort of the arrangement we have… but instead of mall gift certificates, it’s untraceable cash deposits.”
Lulu eyes widened. “Which can even be used for a day at the spa!”
The next thing out of Lulu’s mouth was a yelp as Charlene yanked one of her pigtails. “He’s making us mercenaries, you twit!”
“Mercenary” seemed to be a pretty cool title to Doug, but he couldn’t help but be concerned about anything that was one of Bryce’s ideas. “Is this legal, or are we going to get executed for this?”
Bryce thought for a moment. “Those are really two different questions, Doug. The illegal things that people get executed for are things like speaking out against the government – subversive things. Being a murderous thug, on the other hand, rarely catches the eye of the government, because it’s of no threat to their hierarchy. Actually, all the governments, realizing that there will always be a certain criminal element to society, have put some regulations on it. So, to answer Doug’s question, we will be criminals, but I’ve done enough research to make sure our criminal activities follow the letter of the law so we don’t get in trouble.”
Doug, as usual, was confused, but so apparently were Charlene and Lulu. Charlene stopped trying to parse Bryce’s words to shout, “I’m not a mercenary! I fight for the honor of our divine Empress.”
Bryce rolled his eyes. “Yes, like the battle today where they tried to kill you off to fill a quota. Guess who is hiring us, by the way? Empress Proserpine’s own government… I think.” Charlene continued to scowl at him. “Anyway, because of treaties, the government needs to unofficially hire mercenaries to get the real work done. If you want to fight important battles with a meaningful purpose – money – then this is what you need to be doing to best serve Empress what’s-her-face.”
“I think this is a neat idea,” Lulu said, “especially if we won’t get executed for it. I think you’ll actually like this, Charlene, but if you want to be a part of my mercenary group, you have to be less bitchy.”
Charlene calmed a bit, but she still eyed Bryce suspiciously. “So why did you really put her in charge?”
Bryce hesitated to reply for a moment. “If you look at statistics, the most underrepresented group among criminals are Asian females, so having her in charge will give us a big advantage in getting contracts in the future.”
Charlene laughed. “So she’s just filling quotas.”
Lulu looked indignant. “I’m very good at filling quotas.”
“A diverse makeup really is important in getting government contracts,” Bryce explained, “and we have a good group here: half women and half minorities.” He pointed to Doug. “I’m not really sure what Doug is, but it looks like he’s something.”
“I really like nachos, so I think I might be Hispanic.” Doug started to notice the weight of the bags he was still carrying. “Are we going to go somewhere soon so I can set these down?”
“Sure, let’s get something to eat now so we can discuss this.” Bryce led them toward the exit.
“So, what will the Asmods do if they find out we’re stealing something from them?” Lulu asked.
“They’ll kill us, of course,” Charlene said.
“But the whole reason I want out of the military is I don’t want to be killed!”
Bryce opened the building’s front door for the ladies. “Don’t worry, tri-Lu; now we control the risks on these operations. We’re not just going to charge in shooting; instead, we’ll have a smart plan to get in and out with no one the wiser. Plus, we have that ten percent to help finance our plan. This will hardly be risky at all, I assure you.”
This actually seemed like a great idea to Doug. He figured he’d probably still just be carrying things for this plan, but he’d be carrying things on behalf of a secret mission!
“So how much is this ten percent?” Charlene asked as they headed down the street.
“It’s… well…”
Charlene scowled. “On second thought, I’d rather see the actual account than take your word for it.”
“Suddenly she’s concerned about the money.” Bryce chuckled until a number of bullets struck the wall next to him, just missing his head. “Oh, hell.”
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