The Road to Hell

Chapter 11

Before they left the Darkstar, David knew he wanted Tanner, Farid, and Armin on the mission. Coschek had them immediately reassigned and updated with the mission briefs, and by the time David stepped back into his home, they were already packed and waiting for his command.

There was something of a strained silence between them. Farid and Tanner pointedly avoided eye contact, and Armin stood in as some sort of uncomfortable barrier in the middle. But when José walked in behind David, the mood shifted. Tanner broke into a huge grin and wrapped José in a bear hug.

"Holy shit! Spook!"

José, managed to gasp out a friendly greeting before the large man released him. Farid was less animated than Tanner, but he looked just as pleased to see him. "Ramius, it's been far too long."

"Damn right it has. If there's one plus side to this mission, it's that I'll be working with the best damn team the League could put together. That reminds me, you have to meet the rest of Team Nyx."

José led Tanner and Farid towards a smallish oriental woman with wide eyes and a shy smile. "This is Wendy Nguyen. She's an intrusion specialist and a world-class martial artist."

Tanner and Farid stepped forward to shake her hand. "Hi," was all she said.

"She doesn't say much out loud, but when she's got a sword in her hand, she makes it sing," José said.

Tanner looked interested. "Well then, maybe we can go a few rounds some time, Wendy."

She looked up at him with a suddenly confident smirk. "If you can last that long," she said. The three men involuntarily took a half-step backwards. She didn't seem quite so tiny any more.

"I know my way around a blade," Tanner said, sounding somewhat less audacious than he intended.

"We'll see," Wendy promised.

They both anticipated the challenge, but Farid looked less than pleased. When Tanner and José turned away to speak to the twins, Farid leaned in close to Wendy and whispered, "Don't underestimate Tanner. He doesn't deal from a straight deck."

This warning only seemed to make the woman curious though. She thanked him and moved off. Farid wondered if a match between her and Tanner would end the same way the match with Briggs ended. Would Tanner really do that to a girl? he wondered. Farid wanted to believe Tanner had better principles than that, but he decided he'd better sit in on the match and keep an eye on his friend just in case.

Fisher patiently waited for the others to be finished with their social chatter while mentally reviewing the dossiers she'd read on David and his chosen team members. She'd moved away from everyone else, hoping they'd take the hint and leave her alone, but one of them, Armin O'Hare if she recalled correctly (and she always did), decided he would ignore the obvious hints and introduce himself to her anyway.

"Hey, I'm Armin, but my friends call me Spanner," he said with a bright grin. He stuck a hand out towards her, which he eventually retracted when he realized Fisher's arms weren't going to unfold from across her chest any time soon.

"I know who you are, farm boy," she said without looking directly at him.

"Read my file, have you? Well, I can't say I did you the same honour, but considering you aren't a man and you aren't Asian, you must be Marcia, the team leader."

"Look," she snapped. "The name's Fisher. Not Marcia, nor Fish, Fishy, Marshy, or any other ridiculous nickname I know you're coming up with right now."

Armin laughed and turned to the rest of the room. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Fish Kebab, but be careful, because that stick is jammed all the way in." David and Farid started to laugh, when Fisher wiped the grins off of everyone's faces by seizing Armin's arm and flipping him onto his back.