Fireflight

Chapter Three

Brenden sat in the back of the I.M.P van as they sped towards their destination, staring out the window vacantly and lost in his own mind. Beside him sat Millie and Moxxie. He hadn't talked to them or Blitzo and Loona much since he had taken the job several days ago. If he was honest with himself, which he was, he was slightly uncomfortable around them. They were still strangers to him and he had never been very good as socializing. As he gazed out the window a voice pulled him back to reality.

"So Brenden, where are ya from?" Millie was asking. 

"Oh! Yes," the imp answered, snapping out of his daydreams. "I was born in the far east, the Umber Plains." 

"Really now!" Millie said cheerfully. "What was it like out there?" 

"Usually cold." Brenden said simply. 

"Not much of talker are you, huh?" Moxxie quipped from the other side of the back seats. 

"Moxxie honey, be nice." Millie scolded him gently. 

"I am!" her husband argued. "I'm simply making conversation." 

Brenden looked over a the married couple. He liked Millie better than Moxxie, she was genuinely nice and caring. On the first day she had led him around and given him the rundown on his new job with enthusiasm and care, while Moxxie had mostly kept silent.

Moxxie was uptight and a bit of a frantic brainiac. He could be a little too blunt or come across as generally unaware of other people's feelings and reactions. Despite this Brenden felt that Moxxie wasn't that bad of a guy. He loved his wife and was completely devoted to her, and there were some similarities between Brenden and Moxxie. 

Up in the front Blitzo sang terribly along to the tune of a grungy rock song while his adopted daughter Loona sat back in her chair with an expression of both disgust and mild embarrassment. 

"I don't know much about the Umber Plains," Millie had begun again. "Care to tell me a bit about them?" 

Brenden nodded, sensing that his coworker was looking for an actual conversation rather than just the occasional response from him. 

"Sure." he answered. "It's mostly flat with rolling hills coming down from the mountains to the north. During the winter months it's bitterly cold and we usually get several feet of snow. In the summer it's extremely hot and dry. There are also a lot of tornadoes." As he spoke, Brenden opened up somewhat, especially seeing the genuine interest on Millie's face. 

"Really now, sounds like a neat place to be." she said in response. 

"Hey Brenden?" Blitzo asked glancing back. "Where is this located?" 

"In the far east along the Great Sea of Blood." 

"Isn't that in the Silver Legion?" Loona asked, looking up from her ever present phone. 

Brenden nodded. "Yes. I was actually a marksman in the far east expeditionary forces." 

"No shit?" Blitzo said excitedly. "So that's why you're such a good shot." 

"Um, sir?" Moxxie began. "Can I remind you that we've never actually seen him fire a gun?" 

"Oh calm your tits Moxxie. If Brenden says he's an excellent marksman, then he's probably an excellent marksman." his boss answered, waving him off. 

"He's probably a better shot than you are." Loona said scathingly. "That's pretty easy too." she added, getting a death glare from Moxxie. "Anyways, we'll see for ourselves when we get there." 

                                                                                                [] 

A few hours later they arrived at their destination after half a day on the road. They had been given instructions to meet with an informant at a gas station far out in the country. As they pulled into the old, rundown refueling center build at the foot of the hills a fiend hopped off of the back of an old rusted truck and stood at the ready, his fingers brushing up against the handle of a sidearm at his waist. 

"Look's like our guy." Blitzo said as they pulled up. 

"He looks like he could be a problem." Moxxie added. 

"Just stay alert." the taller imp reassured him. 

Blitzo parked the van behind the truck and kicked the door open, the rest of the crew following him. 

"You our guy?" he asked, reaching out to shake the other demon's hand. 

"Depends? You I.M.P?" the denizen asked. 

"We sure are." 

Their contact nodded and took Blitzo's hand. He was a sinner, a squat, stocky turtle fiend wearing a clean white tank top and a black leather jacket. A pair of torn jeans were held up by a classy, but worn out belt with a brass buckle tarnished by age. A pair of keen, swampy green eyes looked carefully over the five mercenaries and he nodded appreciatively. 

 "You guys look good for the job. You want me to fill you in on the details?" he asked. 

"Of course." Blitzo nodded. 

"Right then, you know of Shrapnel Willie?" the snapping turtle demon asked. 

The team of mercenaries nodded. Shrapnel Willie, A.K.A the cowboy demon was a minor overlord who had come to infamy recently for his daring and successful raids on trains and postal trucks in the country side north of the capital and all the way into principality territories. The daring criminal led a gang that was both brave and insane enough to take on the professional armies of the many princes and lords of the region's states. 

"Well he wants your help axing off one of his partners." the informant grunted. 

"Care to tell us why?" Moxxie asked. 

  Blitzo nodded. "Sounds good to me. Who's the guy?" 

The cowboy demon's lackey reached over and snatched a manila folder containing several sheets of paper off the trunk of his vehicle. "Here ya go." 

Blitzo nodded his thanks and opened the folder up, skimming through it while the rest of his employees glanced at its contents over his shoulders. A picture of a snarl-toothed black caiman was paperclipped to several sheets of paper with the information on him and the men that had run off with him. 

"You can find your target somewhere out in the desert. We think he's around here somewhere." The informant said. "He took an armored car when he left, but we'd just gotten back from a raid so I doubt that there was much gas in it." 

"This desert is pretty big, it'll be a big task finding them." Millie said. 

"No doubt you can pull it off." the snapping turtle said with a grin. 

"Don't worry about it," Blitzo reassured him. "We'll get this job done."