An Offer

As I stepped off the train, I felt a sudden burst of cold air that made it difficult for me to move. I then ignored the cold and followed Trent through the active crowd of people who were rushing off the train.

I walked through the crowd until I saw Trent enter an old beat-up building that was made from old bricks that were starting to fall apart. This building looked more like the kind of structure that you would want to avoid, which most likely made it the perfect place to meet up our next mission.

The building was but a single room that had a table in the center. Around the table, I saw a group of human mercenaries that looked at me as I entered the room with a look that told me that they did not want our help with the next mission.

When I looked in to the eyes of the three male mercenaries that were on the other side of the table that had a map of the city it took every ounce of personal strength to not punch them across the face because of what a mercenary had done to my father.

"We have been assigned to help you with the parts of this mission that might be hard for strike force members to do. whatever you do not get the false hope that we are bound by your rules. as mercenaries, we are free to do whatever we think it would take to get the job done. if we get paid by meeting the criteria of the contract that we have accepted, we don't care what happens on our missions; or who possibly gets hurt or killed. " the leader of the mercenaries said while he was laughing in a semi w / evil tone.

"We understand that. I am just hoping to take down this terrorist cell of the fifth column. " Trent said in a calm and respectful voice to the obvious leader of the band of mercenaries.

"My code name is Speed Kill. I use a lightning enhancement talent to hasten the death of my target." The tall black man that was to the right of the leader said as I saw White lightning start to visualize around his entire body.

This mercenary was quite troubling to me in his appearance because he had stitches along both sides of his face, which probably meant that he had a set of very intense previous injuries in those areas. he had long dreads as his hairstyle that went down to his lower shoulders.

"My code name is Elemental Master; I have the ability to telekinetically enhance my melee weapons with whatever element I can think of as long as I know the different chemical components that make it." the young man to the left of the mercenary leader said.

I thought that this mercenary looked a lot more put together than the last one that I had examined. he had a full set of wavy blonde hair and was quite muscularly built. he did not have many scars except a few cuts on his right cheek; and he for a full set of body armor that was colored black with a red Lion head on both of his shoulder pads.

"Since you have met both of my partners and it's time that I introduce myself. my code name is The Changer. with my talent, if I have used my eyes to scan someone's body, I can become that person in both appearance and vocal manipulation." the leader said as he looked at all of us.

"Now that all of the introductions have been taken care of, can we all please get started on the mission at hand." Trent said with a serious tone behind every word.

"You need to relax more. we have already spread the word across the streets using our connections that we have to find the area where The Fifth Column is hiding.

With our informants, we have found the block of the city that they are gathering for their terrorist movements." the leader said as he pressed a button on the table which caused the city map to go holographic instead of solid and the section near the center of the lower ring of society lit up red on the map.

"So, we will be heading to this block and searching building to building for the terrorist cell. also, to ensure our survivability, could I suggest that we go into two separate teams when we search?" the mercenary leader asked but not in a normal way he asked with the demanding tone behind his voice as if everything that he said was not a suggestion when he looked at Trent.

"Okay then, William and Sid, go with the mercenary leader while the rest of us go with the rest of your team." Trent said in a commanding voice to them as if he was trying to take control of the situation.

"Actually, I would like to make one alteration to that teaming arrangement; if I could. I want Danny with me instead of Sid. " the mercenary leader said to Trent.

"All right, everyone, you have your team assignments, and the location has been uploaded to the map section of your scouters." Trent said to all of us before he walked out of the room with Sid, William, and the other two members of the mercenary team that I was not going with.

I stood still and waited for the mercenary leader to give his instructions to us; but he did not make a single sound until everyone else had left the meeting room.

"Now that I am alone with you two, I have a proposition for you both. the proposition is that I want both of you to join our mercenary team.

Truthfully, I did not reveal all my talents to the group. I have an appraising eye, which allows me to see the skills and potential of whoever I look at. when I looked at both of you, I knew that both of you had more potential in you as fighters than anyone else in your team. that is why I am offering an opportunity for you both to abandon your houses and join us." the leader said with a serious look as he looked at Raven and then back at me.

"Why are you offering this to me? I am just a simple healer and nothing else. " I said to him.

"Danny, do not lie to me. am I appraising I chose that you are much more because I am not able to even tell what your future might possibly hold for you skill-wise.

Just so you know, that has never happened before, which confirmed my suspicion of you being a special breed of Terran." The leader said to me as I saw his eyes turn blue; then green; then red; then yellow; and finally went back to their default Brown.

I felt a rush of uncertainty and worry since he might possibly find out about my destiny to become the god of The Taran Collective to ensure our survival as a species.

"Well, my answer is an uncertain one to your offer because I have a wife and a daughter on the way soon to consider it before I make up my mind." I said as I placed my hands behind my head and began to pace around the room.

"Unlike Danny, my answer is certain. I will never join a filthy group of mercenaries. while it is tempting due to the level of freedom that you are allowed; I only enjoy environments with rules since every rule was created for a reason or a purpose they must be followed. " Raven said as she walked out of the room angrily.

Her rage was so intense that it felt like I could literally sense the waves of anger rushing off her. it felt quite intense as these metaphorical waves met my body.

"You can't win them all no matter how hard you try." he said as he laughed when she left the room in a fuming rage. "For you, Danny, just wait to give me your answer at a later date if you want to. the offer will stand for quite some time. " he said to me.

"Okay, thank you for at least letting me wait to give you an answer. because all major decisions I would prefer to make after I hear my wife's opinion on the situation. " I told him respectfully.

"Well then join me to achieve the mission objective today then." he said to me as he was heading towards the door.

"Okay, I will." I said to him respectfully even though I still felt uneasy since he was a mercenary.

It took us about one hour to make it to the designated area where these people of the fifth column were said to be hiding.

When we made it to the designated area, I noticed that everyone else on our team went deeper down the main road while the mercenary leader turned right, so I followed him.

I made it to the end of the alleyway that he had entered and noticed a massive opening where I had seen a large group of humans gather around a stage that was in the center of the open area.

"Now Danny, do you see that man who is standing on the stage and preaching to the public that are gathering around him." he said to me as he pointed at the man that was located to my right about two hundred feet away.

"Yes, I see him. what does he have to do with the mission?" I asked him as I looked at what at what he was pointing at.

"One of my inside informants has told me that he is here to gather human supporters of the fifth column at the end of his speeches." he said as I followed him to the back row of the group of spectators.

"I know that you are tired of the oppression and separation of The Terran Collective. if this is what irritates you with all the separation involving castes and you want to move on to a better life, come join the fifth column.

We live a utopian existence with all races where your social status is determined by your deeds and not by your talent or bloodline." the speaker said to everyone as he was walking back and forth on the stage, trying to make eye contact with most of the people that were watching him.

He seemed to have a ton of charisma because as the word left his lips, I found myself drawn to him, making it hard to resist the pull that he clearly had over these people. Then everyone began to cheer, and he handed out flyers to a lot of them after his speech was done.

"Move out, Danny. we need to try to follow him whatever he goes, and after we do that, we will find out where his headquarters is located so that we can finish this contract." whispered to me in my right ear so that no one else could hear what he was saying.

So, as the people began to disperse, I followed the speaker by blending in with the crowd so that he would not notice me.

He walked into a side alleyway that was very dark and not lit up enough for me to see what was around me very clearly, but I ensured myself that if I stayed at least with an earshot but also out of sight by hiding behind different cardboard boxes and piles of trash that were in the alley as I moved, I would get the information that we were after.

"Here, this is a list for the members of the fifth column." I could barely hear him say those words since I was still trying to keep my distance to avoid drawing any unwanted attention.

"It seems that your speech has gone quite well today. the smarter ones will be good soldiers for the fifth column while the week-minded ones would also help serve as suicide bombers for our cause. " the man that was at the end of the alleyway said.

I then accidentally caused a tin can to drop out of the trash bag that I was leaning against just so I could get a better hearing at what they were saying.

When the tin can hit the ground, the speaker turned around and began to walk towards me so I ran into a side alley and entered the very first building on the left so that I could maintain my cover.

"What is it?" The other man that was in the alley asked as I heard both start to walk closer to the door of the building that I was hiding in.

"I thought I heard something, but I must have been mistaken." the speaker said as he opened the door and peered into the black room before closing it behind him.

After I finally stopped hearing their footsteps, I made my way out of the building and followed him all the way to a tower that was made from black bricks.

On this tower I saw a symbol of a hand with a dark red eye in the center of it which I knew did not belong to any of the normal races so this must belong to The Fifth Column.

"So, I see that you found their hiding place." the mercenary Captain said to me quietly. "Sixty of the newest members to their cause are coming to the hideout we need to gather the rest of our teams and attack this as soon as possible before they leave this world."

"Okay, while you gather the rest of the members of our team's, I will stand guard in the alleyway over there. You never know if they might show up early, and in that case, you should have a warning. " I told him as I pointed to the alleyway that was the left of the tower.

The mercenary Captain nodded his head and then walked away out of my field of vision.

I knew that this battle was going to be quite a challenging one because we were only fighting humans instead of the enemy races, so we did not have the clearance to use our elemental enhancements for our weapons.

Would I be able to make it back in one piece, or would I become scarred from this experience. I knew that the mercenaries could not be trusted, but their methods and results were quite effective.

I hid behind a box and spent the time that I was waiting on the mercenary Captain to show up again thinking if I would be ever be able to put my dislike of mercenaries aside to possibly join their group; or would I be engulfed in frustration and rage at the site of all these mercenaries that were going to be gathered around me.