Welcome to the Misfits

Making Friends and Stacking Bodies

Chapter 15: Making Friends and Stacking Bodies

- Outpost 17 -

Owen stood beside Colette's Huey in full gear performing his favorite pre-combat ritual, putting a pinch of chewing tobacco in his lip, while Gentiane explained what she could about the situation they were about to walk into over a sat phone she had driven out to his Outpost. He was in his preferred combat uniform this time, jeans and a plaid button down shirt and his ratty camo hat. Comfort was king in his humble opinion. The only thing that labeled him a member of Griffin was the G&K patch on the front of his ranger green chest rig.

His new, to him anyway, sawed off M79, that Gentiane wouldn't let him bring on the exercise, was slung on his back. His M16A4 dangled in front of him, now outfitted with an ELCAN digital sight that linked to the implants in his eyes, and his trusty Walther PPQ was snug in its holster.

His teams milled about in front of him, preparing their gear and waiting for what little detail he could provide.

"We won't be able to assist on this one Owen," Gentiane was telling him, "We're going after a Sangvis ringleader's outpost so you'll be on your own."

"That's going to be tough," Owen observed, "Need me to cut one of my teams loose to give you a hand?"

Gentiane let out an amused snort, "I think we got this one covered, appreciate it though."

"Anytime." Owen replied.

There was a pause on the other end, "Hey Owen?"

"What's up?"

"Be careful out there and bring everyone back, okay?"

Owen grinned, "I'll do my best, and hey, good luck on your end too."

Gentiane thanked him and hung up. Owen placed his new sat phone in his pocket before turning to the human guard who had crashed their barbeque, "So what's your deal, you coming with us?"

The guard, who looked fresh out of highschool, shook his head.

"No sir, I was sent here to relieve one of the guys on the security team, his wife just went into labor."

The dolls, minus Freya, all started squealing in delight and even Owen grinned at the news.

"No shit," Owen exclaimed, "Frankie's gonna be psyched."

The young man nodded, "Yes sir, I'll be his replacement until further notice."

Owen shook his hand, "First of all, cut the 'sir' shit. This ain't the military." He gestured to the buildings around them, "Second, welcome to Outpost 17."

Owen checked his watch, "Frankie's on patrol right now, he'll be back at the guard barracks in about fifteen minutes." Owen pointed to the building in question and the guard, Mateo, thanked him and walked off.

Owen turned back to the teams and had to yell to get through the excitement. Everyone finally settled down and turned to face him. Nines gaze was particularly intense.

Owen tried to avoid eye contact at all costs, once everyone had quieted down, Owen gave them the situation.

"Shut up and listen up," Owen began, "At Oh-Seven-Hundred hours, Sangvis launched a full scale assault on a city at the edge of the Green Zone in the neighboring sector."

The dolls turned grim, Owen continued, "We don't know the size of the force, but we do know the city was big enough to have a sizable and well trained police force that was almost immediately overrun, so expect there to be a lot of bad guys."

"What has that Sector's Commander done in response to the attack?" G3 asked.

Owen stared at G3 for a second before he answered, "That's just it, nothing."