NOVPUBDeath got pretty boring after the first five minutes of looking at the body, causing the crowd to disperse. They quickly came back to watch as the man who was just ran over by the truck began pushing it off the road and down a nearby alleyway.
"Yo! What metal do you be rocking? I can't see shit on you!" A man shouted from behind me after I finished pushing the thing. "No metal, Psionics." I replied, causing half of the people to look nauseous at the mention of space magic, while the others look on in fascination because... Space magic.
Wanting to get the attention of myself, I thought quickly and said. "So, seeing a crash like this can be pretty traumatic right? How about you all go and get a drink at the club? I'll let the first twenty people that are here and use the word bed-bug at the door in for free and have free drinks for the rest of the night on me."
I was immediately left alone as the pack dispersed, screaming bed bug, bed bug. Out of context onlookers would think they were just screaming about, well, bed-bugs, but to the bouncer at the front door, after hearing the little story the first one said, she knew the truth and let twenty individuals inside, causing her partner to look at her weirdly again.
I simply continued to walk casually to the front of the club where a group of armed men and women were carrying barrels into the club from the front. 'Strange, we don't usually resupply from here.' I thought to myself before hearing a very familiar voice, causing me to smile as he addressed me.
"Bloody Minge! Its the fucking great cunt himself! Woah fucking hell mate." Willy said as he stopped a meter away from me and looked up. "What they feedin' you? Fucking steds? You are deffo bigger than last time ya cunt! How are ya anyway?"
Willy's commotion caused the Mercenaries loading the goods to stop temporarily, some recognised me and walked over while some of the newer batch had no clue and looked around for answers.
"I'm not doing too bad Willy, it's good to see you and the fact you still have your tongue, I wouldn't be surprised to learn you lost it at some point." I said with a beaming smile. I found the mercenaries absorbedly crass when I first met them, but I really enjoyed my time with them in the end.
"Hahaha! Not yet you cheeky cunt! I know how to turn it off in front of the dopey cunts, almost called a hot head a cunt earlier, never felt my arse clench harder in my life. It would have cut a dick off if I was into that type of thing."
That got a round of laughs from the mercenaries, from myself as well. However, I suddenly heard some loud footsteps from behind me as someone attempted to 'ambush' me. "Aha!" A wild haymaker erupted from the man behind me and landed straight on my temple.
"AAAH! Fucking milk buckets! Is it even harder than last time! OWWW!" Ernie said, shaking his hand. I then turned around, smiled and said. "Ernie." With a head nod, before punching him straight in the nose.
Ernie went flying backwards causing the mercenaries that had not come over yet to draw weapons and come to his aid, to which they were greatly shocked when their own brothers and sisters turned their weapons onto them.
As Ernie got back to his feet, he wiped his nose and looked at the blood on his sleeve and smiled. "Hahahaha!" His laughter caught the new crew of guard as he walked up and hugged the man who punched him.
"Ah it's been a while since I felt the old brain knocking against the helmet, not since bro died. I am glad you haven't gone soft Apollo. OI! New batch, come and meet a true war hero! Without Apollo here, the entire company would be dead twice over on Decima!"
Some of the new companies were confused about this and one spoke up. "But the trailer says that Caleb led you all to victory? There is no mention of this guy?" I did a hive move and tilted my head to the side in confusion. "Trailer?"
As though mentioning the attention reveller, a voice was heard as it began cutting through the crowd of mercenaries. "All right, All right. What's going on here? Oh! Apollo is that you? Blimey, what are they feeding you seriously? It is like you are on straight growth hormones.
"MMh." I shrugged my shoulders as the man wasn't too far off, I was actually on growth suppressants for years as I wasn't ready to be larger than Jewel and Fianna yet. "Hey Captain, Ernie is saying that this noble is the reason you guys won on Decima. Is that true?"
'I am literally wearing a jacket with a massive hole in it. How do I still come across as a noble?' I thought to myself, not paying attention as Caleb began looking around worried. "Apollo, can I have a word in private? He said as he attempted to push me away.
I was curious and allowed it and once we were far enough away from his troops he told me. "Look. I am very sorry with what happened with the story, but I was put under NDA to all those that were not there that day on Alexandria. The military wanted to change the story into a more patriotic story of how a band of mercenaries found their honour in the midst of battle with the enemy. They wanted to keep any mention of Psionics out of it to inspire the people to go and enlist. Please understand, I had no intention of undermining your efforts that day. I swear it."
"... Caleb I have absolutely no idea what the fuck it is you are talking about?" I said beyond confused, which in turn confused Caleb. "Wait, really? Has Kathrine not told you? They are making a movie about our mission. Look!"
Out of his breast pocket, Caleb began to unfold a large poster with the title: Edge of Freedom. The middle was a series of pictures of actors who somewhat depicted some of the crew I recognised in various poses underneath a green sky. At the centre was a man, who I assumed to be Caleb, with his foot up on a tactical rock looking up valiantly. At the bottom of the poster were the words. "A rag tag group of mercenaries band together to save a world from the evils of alien manipulation. Rated T for teens."
"So you just carry that poster around with you?" I said with a smirk on my face, causing Caleb to look up at me a second. "No... Yes. Shut it, it's a pussy magnet. Look, I am sorry if finding out about this upsets you at all, just please know it was never my intention. All of us scythes have immense respect for what you did for us, never forget that."
I patted Caleb on the shoulder. I really didn't care, but I found the gesture of him apologising to be big of him. "I am not upset at all Caleb. I have never cared about fame. Honestly you should fully sell the hero act, you have the mannerisms for it after all. I wonder why Kathrine didn't tell me about it though?"
As I said that. Caleb giggled like he was a child scheming. "Oh, I think I have a theory of why she hasn't. See that woman to the right of me..." I then looked at the woman to Caleb's right on the poster. "No..." I said slowly, bewildered, causing Caleb to snicker.
"Yeah Tcch, Apparently the producer hated Kathrine when they were at the academy together, so when she found out Kat was in this, she well...
I began to breathily laugh at the horrific interpretation of Kathrine and decided to pocket that piece of goodness for another night. I had already bullied her enough tonight after all. "Ok, I get why she didn't want to tell me, she knew I would abuse this against her. That is too funny."
We walked back to the group a few moments later, where Caleb proceeded to smack the back of Ernie's head. "You are under military NDA you idiot. Be careful what you say."
"Yeah, already spoke with the cunt, sent the kiddo's off as well so just us vets here now." Willy said with a cheerful smile on his face. We chatted about the war outside for a little bit, about the Dino's, the bots, the 'bugs' and the other bots.
I had honestly forgotten what it was like chatting with regular people. It was nice to crack jokes at each other's expense and get called horrid words in the name of a laugh. I had almost forgotten that they were here for a job until one of the men from earlier came over. "Captain. All goods have been delivered. Shall we return to the airport?"
This question snapped me back to reality, causing me to ask.
"Oh yeah, you were delivering something here. What have you delivered?"
