The Next Step

Simon drummed his fingers on his desk, a grim expression on his face. He had mixed feelings about recent events; chiefly preying on his mind was the fact his wife had been kidnapped by Charon, and lord knew what that son of a bitch was going to do to her.
On the bright side, Correy had taken a significant bite out of Typhon's ranks, destroyed their morale, incapacitated Charon and beat the piss out of the Crimson Scar. If ever there was a time to stamp out the flames of Typhon, it was going to be now. But he couldn't afford to get reckless; he had to be smart, had to be calculating, especially if he wanted his wife out alive.
For that, he needed Correy, possibly the best man on his payroll apart from Hissori.
Simon waited patiently in his office; Correy had been contacted and told his payment for the fighting ring fiasco was waiting for him, with a bit extra for exceeded expectations, and that a followup job was planned out. As amazing as Correy was on the battlefield, he was still easy prey to the siren's call of an extra dozen grand or so. That made him a wonderful merc, one Simon was proud to have worked with before, and looked forward to paying again.

Corry navigated the halls of the Mammon HQ.  It was pretty big and easy to get lost in, but it was a path Corry had walked many times before.  He could probably even make make it with his eyes closed.  His two remaining hired mercs waited by the entrance for his return and their share of the profits.  Despite having worked with the two fallen mercs for quite some time now, they knew what line of business they were in.  They would not be going out for revenge.  All their losses meant at this point was less ways to split the pay.  

Corry walked up to a strangely ornate door flanked by two guards.  He gave a quick nod to them, face never betraying any emotion, and gave a quick knock.  Upon getting clearance to enter from a voice inside, he opened the door, entered, and closed the door behind him.  

Corry took a few steps towards Simons desk and stood at a parade rest.  Despite the professional and disciplined appearance of his pose, there was something about the way he held himself that showed how relaxed and confident he was.  He wore his typical Kevlar outfit, feeling lowering your guard at any moment could be fatal, so you need to take every precaution.  He had his black military grade boots and gloves as well.  He stood ready for Simon to initiate the conversation.

Simon smiled and gestured to the seat on the other side of his desk. "Ah, Corry, wonderful to see you again! Please, have a seat." He opened his desk drawer, pulled out a well-stuffed manila envelope, and pushed it across the table to him. "Twenty grand for a stellar job as always. I threw in an extra few thousand as compensation for the loss of some of your men, and of course for putting Charon out of commission and significantly injuring the Crimson Scar. As always, you can walk away if you so wish, this is not your fight, but, also as always, I have another great deal of money for you if you wish to stay on board. This war is nearly over, and it is your doing." He smiled at Corry; the man seldom smiled back, but Simon was always friendly and polite to those who did their jobs as well as Corry did. "I will be offering more than your usual fare as well. Consider it a token of our friendship."

Corry nodded at Simon and took the seat offered to him.  He sat straight and folded his hands.  When Simon passed the envelope, Corry calmly took it and roughly counted the total given to him.  That was one thing he liked about Simon, he had the money to pay when a job was done, and always had a little extra for going above and beyond.  "As a mercenary, I go where the money goes.  Pay me enough and I'll kill anyone or fight any so-called war.  Well, no suicide missions though.  What good is money when you're dead, after all."  

With the two known supers of Typhon in rough shape, Corry imagined going in for an attack now was wisest.  However, he didn't mention that he himself was still recovering.  He wasn't in quite as bad of shape as he expected those two to be, but the bruise on his nose from it being broken was plainly visible.  If he was to do another mission like the last one, he would need to take extra precautions.  "While I'm all for more money, and I have always known you to be a generous man when payday came around, I've never known you to offer extra upfront.  So I have to wonder, why now?  You say it's 'as a token of our friendship', but I know you better than that Simon."  Corry stared right at Simon, face both calm and serious.

Simon licked his lips slightly, a touch of frustration and annoyance obvious on his face. "It's more of a guarantee of loyalty. I'm sure a merc with a record like yours has likely heard of if not worked with the head of the Tang family, Shoushan, yes? Chinese bastard, human trafficking, as rich as I am. Well, he stole Alistair from me. Bought him off my payroll for his blood-feud with his little brother. So this is to make it harder for him to buy you."
Simon leaned back in his chair and rubbed the bridge of his nose. This war had been particularly stressful for him, and he had barely been getting any sleep. "As for the job, I need my wife back. We have an idea of where she might be, but it's shaky information. Even so, it's all we have. I want you and some of your best men to go there, see if there's truth to the rumors. If there is, get her out and you can safely retire tomorrow with enough money to buy a small country. If there's no truth to the rumors, grab one of the Typhon goons and get some better ones. Simple enough, yes?"

Corry gave a quick smirk.  "So the bastard mind reader went and did it.  Can't say I blame him.  Money is always a tempting offer."  Corry leaned back in his chair.  "The Tang family, huh? Yeah, I've worked with him.  Once, a few years ago.  He certainly paid well, I'll give him that.  Unfortunately, his pretentious attitude and constant jeering were more than I was willing to take.  He seemed to be under the impression that I was inferior to his Chinese personnel.  I was about ready to burn off one of their faces until I decided it was best not to burn any bridges.  Even if it was pretty rickety to start with.  If you are going to pay me more to not go and work with him, I'm more than willing to take it."  

Corry listened to Simon explain the job. "So you just need me to save your wife then?  Seems pretty straight forward to me.  Of course I'll still need details such as where it is and who can I expect to confront.  Also, if you expect this to go down soon, I don't expect I'll be finding any more mercs to bring along than the two I already have, and I'd rather not use your own men for this mission either.  I almost hope those were some of your weaker men on that last mission given how poorly they performed and how badly disciplined they were.  Only thing they were good at was causing chaos and being a good distraction."  Corry rubbed his own nose, remembering the mission.  "Regardless, we'll take it.  Just give me the details."

Simon sighed slightly; Corry was constantly criticizing his men for their discipline or lack thereof, and were Corry not the invaluable asset he was, Simon would not let such an insult slide. But as it was, those weren't his best men, and Corry was in fact right.
"Just you and two men might be a bit risky for this; that said, even if you'd accept them, none of my men are willing to go on this job. The roads on the way to where we think they're holding her have been home to some... grizzly events. There's always been stories about the old factory in the old industrial district, superstitious nonsense that's older than Mammon is, but recently things seem to be going on radiating around it... And before you suggest the East Diamond Ripper is back in town, it's not him. The Ripper always left bodies, battered as they may be... But all my men who go out there seem to just... disappear, nothing but bloodstains in the streets the next day. Enough of my men have vanished in that area that I don't want to risk anything, and my men have it in their heads that those streets are cursed, claiming they hear animalistic noises in the night. Bullshit if you ask me; someone's staked a claim there. Watch yourself; you'll have to make your way through those streets to get to where we think they're holding her. If you can find out who or what is doing this, I'll pay you for the information, and I'll double it if you bring back heads. But don't go out of your way for it; my wife is priority one." Simon slid an envelope with the necessary information on the address across the table. "As for Typhon resistance, expect their best. If my wife is there, they're going to be sinking a lot into keeping me from getting her. That damned mini-gun on a truck will be nearby for the second an alarm goes off, and the place will be crawling with their best. And word is they have some police-grade gear. Shouldn't be an issue for a military-grade man like yourself, but three military geared men against fifty police geared ones with a pickup from hell is still not a fight I'd want to be in. Prep accordingly; if you need money to hire more hands, say it and I'll cough it up. Any ammo you need is yours for the asking."
Simon leaned back in his chair. "Anything else you need to know, say it now."

"Oh yes.  Those rumors.  You hear about it all the time these day it seems.  While I am curious as to what's actually causing it, I'm not the type to do something just out of curiosity.  I'll keep my eyes open for the ones responsible for those disappearances."  Corry closed his eyes in thought for a moment.  "Well, if that's what you say, I think playing it safe would be a smarter option.  I'll take you up on that then.  I'll find a few more mercs to join me on the mission."  Corry took a quick glance at the information in the envelope before returning his gaze to Simon.  "I'll make sure it goes as cleanly as possible.  No side-tracks, in and out.  Think of anything that could go wrong and plan accordingly.   I'll find the men, you provide the money and weapons."  Corry moved to stand up.  "Well if that's all, I had best begin preparing."

Simon nodded. "You do that. And whatever happens, try not to get yourself killed. I'd hate to sink this much money into an investment and valuable asset just to have it be squandered due to some imaginary curse or half-rate Typhon goons. They won't kill her, whatever happens; they know that that would just result in me instantly walking over them. If you need to get out without saving her, do it. The cemented knowledge of her location is valuable in it of itself."