We probably spent the next forty-five minutes to an hour explaining to Sylvie that Qendaess was a dragon and how she came about being in our group. I could have swore that Sylvie knew because I could have sworn I or Qendaess told her. I threw the thought into the back of my mind as the conversation drifted elsewhere.

Vladendric looked at me, “Could tell me what your patron meant about you being able to solve our little issue?”

I nodded my head, “I possess technology, well I have access to technology that could protect your clan and any other supernatural group from the weapons of mass destruction the humans have.”

He widened his eyes, “You do! What do you want in exchange for such technology!”

I held up a finger as I stood up, “Hold on a sec, let me make a phone call.”

I walked outside and then about 3 blocks down the road before pulling my cell phone out. It honestly couldn’t be called a cell phone though because it doesn’t use the primitive cellular technology to work. I paused briefly as I wondered about my usage of the word primitive being that cellular technology was still pretty good tech on earth. In all honesty someone would call me crazy if I said that sentence out loud, but I shrugged my shoulders and then placed a call. I selected privacy mode and held the phone to my ear.

After a few rings the person on the other line picked up, “This is The Dealer of The Playing cards, best mercenaries in this section of the universe how may I assist you today?”

I laughed, “Really? The leader of the ‘best mercenaries in your section of the universe’ is going to answer her personal line like some sort of secretary?”

Luci scoffed, “Listen, I have been a very busy woman okay. I had to teach some punk a lesson in humility because he was scaring some other punk to the point of almost pissing his pants. I swear children these days.”

I frowned, “I was not about to piss my pants.”

She laughed, “Maybe not, but hey, sounds funnier if I tell the story that way.”

I face-palmed, “You have told people what happened?”

She snorted, “Just some people in my circle of friends. You wouldn’t know them and by the time you meet them, they probably would have forgotten about it by then anyways.”

I sighed, “Okay, enough of getting a kick out of my misery. I have an order to place if you can fulfill it.”

She clicked a pen, “Is it concerning the supernatural races on your planet?”

I wondered about her use of a mechanical pen with the technology they have briefly before I continued, “Yeah. I want something that could protect their strongholds from a nuclear bomb, but I don’t want to have the best. Just get me the bare minimum. Maybe something that could protect them from about ten bombs before it stops working or something. Also, I want my ship to be able to blast through it at will.”

She laughed, “Hell, your ship's weapons could damn near blast through the shields on The Suites ships. Granted, I upgraded them after you got yours so now it would take at least five or six shots. Shooting through the quality of shield you are asking for is like using a sword to rip through a single sheet of paper.”

I nodded, “Sweet. Yeah, give me a shipment of those.” I thought about it for a second, “Uh, how much is that going to run me?”

She laughed, “Honey, what you're asking for is so cheap, I can get you about two million units for around two thousand.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Damn, that cheap?”

She snorted, “Yeah, that technology went out of date in this section of the universe probably fifty-five hundred years ago.”

I had a blank expression on my face, “Oh.”

There was some scribbling before she spoke again, “Okay order placed and should arrive at your home planet in a couple of weeks. If you didn’t live in such a backwater area, I could get you that two-day delivery, but noooo, you gotta live out in hicksville.”

I laughed, “Sorry that my peasant home world is inconvenient to you your majesty.”

She snorted, “You should be. Now, I must get back to some important business, so I must go. Maybe next time you could just make a social call instead of just contacting me when you have business. Not that I am complaining about making money or anything.”

I laughed, “Sorry, I’ll try and give you a call later. Hell, you may see me in person sooner than I would call you.”

She tisked, “That is true. Still wouldn’t hurt to get a social call. Show you care a little bit, no?”

I sighed, “Okay. I’ll try and do that as soon as I can. Thanks Luci.”

She laughed, “You do that. Have fun. Try not to turn into an evil overlord or anything. We get paid a pretty good penny to take them out.”

She hung up after that and I shook my head as I walked back to Sylvie’s house. Vladendric and Sylvie were talking as I walked in.

They stopped talking when I entered the room while Vladendric spoke up, “So, was your phone call productive?”

I nodded, “Yeah. The technology needed to protect your strongholds is on its way. Should be here in a few weeks.”

He grinned from ear to ear, “Perfect! Maybe with this I can discuss with the world leaders about the possibility of our kind coming out to the public.”

I nodded, “That would be great if they went for it. Just imagine the different markets that you all could open.”

He smiled, “Exactly. Necromancers could revive people for a short amount of time to help with murder cases, witches could sell their potions such as the cure for diabetes, cancer, and etc.”

I widened my eyes, “There are witches and they have a cure for cancer!?”

He nodded, “Yup. They have had the cure for a few decades now. They wanted to release it under the guise of a medical company, but your big pharma has some deep ass pockets. They don’t want us to release a cure because they would lose billions in revenue. They kept stonewalling us with legal processes. If we could be truthful about what we are, maybe we could get around those processes because there are no laws concerning us yet.”

I sighed, “Yeah, I have had an issue with big pharma myself. Insulin for diabetics shouldn’t cost the same as a monthly payment on a car or a house. Hell, people need that shit to live and even with insurance it costs them a couple hundred a month! It’s downright highway robbery and what has the government done about it? Absolutely nothing! They don’t care as long as they get those million dollar checks that big pharma no doubt writes them yearly.”

He laughed, “Yearly? Shit kid, they write them checks monthly. All the money that they say goes into R&D goes into the politicians’ pockets in order to keep charging astronomically marked up medicine.”

I was starting to get worked up about the issue so I decided to change the topic, “Okay, so now that we have that settled, what’s next for the short run?”

Vladendric nodded, “Next on the agenda is a meeting between council members. I need to tell them we finally have an answer to almost everything that has been plaguing us for generations. Give me a moment please.” He stepped out of the room to make a phone call and left Sylvie and I in the room. She grinned and then moved over to plopped down on my lap.

She gave me a deep kiss, “Thank you for coming to my rescue.”

I nibbled on her jawline, “No need to thank me love. I do it because I care.”

She giggled, “I know you do. Doesn’t mean that I am not grateful though.”

Qendaess laughed at us, “If that’s all, I am going to go home now. I was in the middle of a nap when I felt you were in danger.” She got up and gave me and Sylvie a kiss before flying through the hole in the roof.

I watched her leave for a minute before sighing, “I need to fix the hole in your roof.”

Sylvie laughed, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll file a claim on the insurance and let them pay for it. In the meantime, I could just crash at your place.”

I thought about it for a split second before answering, “My current home is getting a bit crowded and I haven’t finished building the bigger one yet. If you don’t mind sleeping on the couch, then I don’t mind.”

She grinned like a Cheshire cat, “Why sleep on the couch when I could just sleep in your bed?”

I wasn’t against the idea, but there wasn’t enough room in my current bed, “If that is the case, I need to go bed shopping. My king size bed is already at max capacity.”

At this moment Vlad walked back into the room, “Okay, so the council is set to meet already and most of them are waiting on us to arrive.”

I raised an eyebrow, I seem to do that a lot, but it just seems so natural to me, “Us?”

He nodded, “Yup, Sylvie gets to go because council members can bring an assistant and you get to go as the official human representative on the council. Welcome aboard Mr. Anderson.” He stretched his hand towards me which I gladly shook.

After shaking hands I remembered a little issue that I needed to deal with, “Can we push this meeting with the council back a couple of hours though? I have an issue with some humans that I need to deal with.” He was about to speak but I interrupted him, “You won’t have to worry about any humans finding out because I don’t plan on letting any of them live, plus I plan on going in the human way with some new technology that I want to test out on some normal human targets.”

He nodded his head, “Let me make some calls, but I don’t think that it would be an issue to push the meeting back a bit. The council members are all in New York City for their monthly meeting as it is, so it’s not like it would be inconveniencing anyone.”

I nodded, “Great, I need to make some calls to my new team.”

I had been having Cindy do some hiring for the company over the last few days. I made finding my first team a priority before finding anyone to run the rest of the departments. Can’t be a private mercenary company without a mercenary team.

I pulled out my phone and dialed one of the numbers that Cindy texted me. After a few rings a woman picked up, “Devil Dogs, you tag’em we bag’em.”

I laughed at the way she answered the phone, “This Vanessa Sanchez?”

There was a brief pause, “Depends, who's asking?”

I smiled, “This would be your new boss. I need you to gather your team and meet me at the address that I sent to your HDA.”

She instantly replied, “I have received the address we will be there within the hour.”

I nodded, “Good, I will meet you all there.”

There was another brief pause, “Sir?”

I laughed, “I’m not like some of those company bosses that do nothing but sit in meetings all day and drink with prospective clients and heads of states. I have seen my fair share of action.”

She laughed, “If you say so sir. You are the boss, meet you there. Sanchez out.”

She hung up the phone after that and I turned back to Vlad, “I need to go take care of the issue now. I will meet you and Sylvie at the airport to head to New York.”

Vlad nodded and I gave Sylvie a kiss before leaving the area. I found an isolated area and stored my vehicle in my inventory before taking out one of the new trucks that Cindy bought for the company. It was a Black Dodge Ram TRX with Royal Purple Trim. The truck wasn’t supposed to be out for a while now, but Cindy managed to pull a few strings with a generous amount of money involved to get us the first contract with the new trucks. We aren’t allowed to tell people what they are, but that’s fine. You can tell it’s a Dodge Ram just by the looks. There is no TRX badging anywhere on the truck. As far as the public would be concerned it’s just a new Dodge Ram 1500.

I unloaded a few of the weapons that I kept in my inventory for just this moment. There were five weapons that looked like assault rifles, five weapons that looked like snipers, five handguns, five smaller weapons that reminded me of submachine guns, and five little square plates with finger grooves. I picked up one of the plates and when I gripped it a blade of light about 4 inches in length popped out. It looke like a mini lightsaber and I was ecstatic. I pulled out another one and put it in the back of the truck because I kept one for myself. The one I was holding was emitting a white color, but when I thought about how cool it would be for it to be purple instead, the color changed. The little light knife was now glowing purple.

I wanted to test a theory and I walked over to a chain link fence. I put the knife near one of the links and as I moved it down, it cut right through the metal like butter. I was fucking stoked. I basically had a real life mini lightsaber in my hand. I then decided to change the color of the blade to black and then put it in my pocket.

I looked at the weapons sitting on the tailgate of the truck and analyzed them.

A769 “Demon Class” Assault Rifle

The A769 is a “Demon Class” Assault Rifle is an automatic rifle that fires a solid projectile at near Mach 7 speeds. The dampening technology in the gun gives you none of the kick of modern gunpowder weapons. The A769 has a fire rate of 800 projectiles per minute. Included magazines will hold around 30 projectiles the size and shape of a 5.56 x 45mm bullet. Magazines can be used that hold 60 rounds as well.

WARNING!! Do not shoot an enemy with a friendly down range! Projectile travelling at speeds fast enough to puncture through multiple enemies!

The warning at the end of the description is welcome, but a bullet travelling at those speeds, it’s kind of obvious that penetration is not an issue. I noticed that the weapon has a bullet tracker on the side of the body. Actually, almost all of the weapons have bullet trackers on them, except for the handguns.

S296 “Angel Class” Sniper Rifle

The S296 is an “Angel Class” Sniper Rifle that fires a solid projectile at Mach 10 speeds. The dampening technology in the rifle allows the kick to only be as much as a modern day .22 rifle. The S296 is a semi-auto rifle with a 25 - 30 round magazine depending on the size of the projectile inserted. Projectiles can range from .308 - .388 in physical size. Magazines included are for .388 size projectiles.

WARNING!! Do not shoot an enemy with a friendly down range! Projectile travelling at speeds fast enough to puncture through multiple enemies!

The sniper rifle magazine sticks out of the rifle like you would expect one for the Barrett .50 Cal rifle would, except it holds more ammo.

SM599 “Samurai Class” Submachine Gun

The SM599 is a “Samurai Class” Submachine Gun that fires solid projectiles at Mach 5 speeds. The smg is a semi-auto, burst, or automatic weapon. It fires projectiles the size of a .45 ACP. It has a fire rate of 1500 rounds per minute. Included magazines will hold 33 projectiles, magazines that hold 50 rounds are available. The dampening technology in the gun gives you none of the kick of modern gunpowder weapons.

WARNING!! Do not shoot an enemy with a friendly down range! Projectile travelling at speeds fast enough to puncture through multiple enemies!

The SMGs shoot a little over the amount of rounds per minute as a modern day Vector. The bullet velocity is nothing to joke about though on any of these weapons, especially the snipers. Now onto the handguns.

H198 “Soldier Class” Handgun

The H198 is a “Soldier Class” Handgun that fires solid projectiles at Mach 3 speeds. The handgun is a semi-auto or burst fire weapon. It fires projectiles the size of a 9mm bullet. Included magazines hold 20 rounds, 35 and 50 round magazines are available.

I picked up one of the handguns and aimed down the sights. To my surprise a holographic red dot appeared with a small bullet tracker in the bottom right corner. A robotic voice greeted me as well, “Please register the user's code name and unlock phrase.” I smiled, “Code Name; Dragon, Unlock Phrase; Amethyst Zero.”

There was a brief pause before the voice answered back, “Acknowledged. Voice recorded, Code Name Dragon registered.”

I took an assault rifle and did the same thing with it. I didn’t analyze the knife because I honestly didn’t care. It was a mini lightsaber. What else did I need to know. I shut the tailgate and headed towards the stip club on 57th and Stien. When I drove by I noticed that the name of the strip club was “Stien’s Alley”. The owner really needed to work on his naming sense. I pulled into the parking lot of the strip club. It was the middle of the day, so there weren't any customers and there were very few workers. A few minutes later and a Ford Excursion pulled into the parking lot next to me.

Five people jumped out and walked over towards me. The driver of the vehicle was a short latina girl. She was probably around five foot and some inches, but boy was she hot. She had her brown hair pulled back into a ponytail that went down to the middle of her back. Her breasts were honestly a little on the big side for her frame. I estimated them to be at least a double d in size. She was wearing a green tank top that strained against said bust and a pair of brown cargo shorts that were tight as shit against her big latina ass. She was also wearing a pair of brown boots to complete the look. I took a wild guess that this was Vanessa Sanchez. Well a guess and the fact that she was the only female in the group.

The man directly behind her was at least six foot tall, hell they all were. He was a caucasion middle aged man. He had a bit of salt and pepper to his beard. He was wearing a matching tank top that strained against the bulging muscles in his chest. He had a scar that ran across his right eye and down his cheek. He looked like the typical jarhead honestly. He was wearing a pair of brown cargo pants and boots.

The next man in the group was of an asian descent. He was on the shorter side as well, but still taller than Vanessa. He had a Crop Top haircut that was spiked at the ends. He had a smile on his face the entire time he was walking up and he looked like he wanted to bounce out of his shoes. He was wearing the same outfit as the previous guy. Actually, all the guys are wearing the same outfits.

The third guy was a tall ass african american gentleman. He had to be at least six foot eight, as he towered over me. He had muscles upon muscles and a serious look on his face. His eyes were always vigilant when he looked at me though his eyes widened a bit and he couldn’t stop staring at me.

The fourth guy was a guy of native american descent. His hair was braided and laid on his shoulder. Surprisingly there was a raven that landed on his shoulder. He pulled something out of his pocket and fed it to the bird. I honestly thought that was kind of cool. He had a patch over his right eye.

The fifth and final guy was another man of latin heritage. He looked vaguely like Vanessa. I thought they may be brother and sister or something along those lines. He was taller than her standing what looked about the same height as me. He was glaring at me the entire time he walked up.

Vanessa and her group stopped in front of me, “Are you Mr. Anderson?”

I smiled and held my hand out, “I am. Name’s Kira Anderson, you can call me Boss, Sir, or Mr. Anderson, whichever you prefer.”

She grabbed my hand, “I’ll stick to Boss or Sir when in the field. Makes things faster and smoother.

I nodded, “You gonna introduce me to your team?”

She laughed, “Sure. The jarhead behind me is David “Deacon” Andrews. No he isn’t an actual deacon, but he is cathloc and the nickname just stuck during one of his tours.”

Deacon held his hand out and I shook it, “Boss.”

The hyperactive man next to him is Takashi “Nez” Nezumi, he is the blade expert of our group.

Nez held his hand out and I shook it as well, “Sup man! We about to fuck some shit up?”

This caused me to laugh while Vanessa continued, “The big guy is Devontez “Dev” Jordan, he is the computer expert of our little gang here.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Computer expert?”

He nodded, “Yeah, I get that alot. I used to do field work, but hand an injury back in the day that made that nearly impossible now. I can shoot a gun if need be, but the frontlines isn’t my place anymore. My time on the frontlines did sharpen my intuition though and its telling me you are very dangerous Mr. Anderson.”

I smiled, “As long as you don’t get on my bad side and do as ordered, you won’t have to worry about anything.” He nodded and didn’t say anything else.

Vanessa looked at me for a minute before continuing, “The guy with the Raven is Chris “Raven” Samuels. He is our resident medic.”

Raven looked at me, “Debbie likes you.”

I furrowed my brows, “Debbie?”

He nodded and pointed to the Raven, “This is Debbie and she usually doesn't like anyone. She seems to be okay with you though.”

At this moment Debbie flew over and landed on my shoulder. She cawed and stared into my eyes. I used a finger to rub her head before she flew back to Raven. He was staring at me like I had two heads.

Vanessa took a second to stare at me again before continuing once more, “The last member of our motley crew is my brother Roberto “Reaper” Sanchez. He is our resident sniper. He can accurately hit a target, moving or otherwise, from a mile away.”

I whistled, “That’s impressive man.”

He snorted, “Whatever.”

At this moment I knew that me and this guy were going to have problems. I looked at Vanessa and she shrugged her shoulders. I grinned and walked up to her brother. He squared his shoulders up and stared at me.

I stared straight in his eyes, “I don’t care about whatever beef you have with me or whatever crawled up your ass. We can work on that later, but if your bullshit gets anyone I care about injured or anyone on the team killed. I will put a bullet between your eyes myself. Even if I have to go through your sister.”

Vanessa stepped in between us, “Whoa Boss. No need to threaten anyone, especially my brother. He has always been like this until he warms up to you, but I can vouch for his ability to execute in the field.”

I nodded my head, “As long as he understands where I stand then we can get started with the mission.”

Roberto glared at me, “Understood, sir.”

Vanessa sighed, “Now that that is over with, what’s the mission and what kind of toys do we get sir?”

I grinned, “Oh, you are going to love this.”