THE MOMENT
Commander Shaw was not in a very good mood. He was days away from losing a war, and he was desperate enough to bring in mercenaries. Except, intsead of a squad of burly, gun-toting commandos, he was facing a lineup of six high-schoolers, and four of them were girls.
"I paid you to win a war, and you brought me a girl scout troop?" Commander Shaw asked Ozone. The Commander, his associate Ozone, and the six students were currently just outside the fort and it was mid-afternoon on a lovely, partly cloudy day.
"You paid me what you could to win a war," Ozone reminded Commander Shaw of the specifics with a shake of his head. "They're not quite as spectacular as my best, but they can get the job done," he nodded.
"We're fighting the armies of the Dark Lord! Orcs, ogres, dragons and giants! We have thousands of men and I at least expected hundreds more. I don't have time to babysit," he said. Ozone chuckled and shook his head.
"Don't need any army to win a war, just overwhelming strength," Ozone nodded.
"They have it!" Commander Shaw expected more from Ozone's reputation. But, now that he'd fallen short, the Commander was going to make it clear how unhappy he was. "Lemme say it slow. Because I don't think you heard me. They have...," He gestured at a small, distant figure that wouldn't have been visible from where it was if it were a normal size human. "A Fucking. GIANT!!! Not an 'oh my, how tall you are giant, or a brush the forest canopy with your forehead giant. That bloody thing is parting fucking CLOUDS in its wake!" He was so angry the spittle was flying as he raged.
"And you want me to send in FUCKING SCHOOL KIDS!?"
"Yeah, let me introduce you," Ozone smiled.
"That tall one with the cybernetics is Eph, and the girl next to him with silver hair is Lunessa." Commander Shaw was too confused to interrupt, and at least it gave him time to think. "Then, the blonde girl in black, with a green streak is Aurora, and the kid in the white cowboy hat next to her is Ace. Lupe is girl in black with long dark hair and the shortest girl with no eyes is Abby. I'll tell you what," Ozone continued after the introductions.
"This is our first deal, and I can tell you're not quite ready to take me at my word; let's fix that. Go ahead and pick any one of them for a demonstration," he said.
"Fine, they're all so talented? Then, let's see what the littlest one can do. Abby," he said. She had eyes, despite what Ozone said, but it was hard to tell. There were no obvious pupils nor visible whites. Instead, Abby had solid, deep black orbs in her eye sockets.
"Abby?" Ozone nodded at the girl, then gestured at the looming threat in the distance. "Why don't you ease the Commander's mind about that giant right over there?" he asked. Abby turned to look at the spec of a giant, then turned and giggled at Commander Shaw.
"Fuck yeah," she laughed. The Commander was mildly annoyed by her mocking his language, but it only lasted a moment and gave way to sudden panic as she was suddenly enveloped in a mass of crawling black spiders. He had no idea where they came from, and in an instant she and the spiders vanished.
"You see, the thing no one seems to understand is.. I'm not going to put kids into situations they can't handle," Ozone nodded. "And naturally, no normal high schooler is going to be of any use to you in your campaign, so I wouldn't have brought normal high schoolers," he said.
Suddenly, they were in shadow, and Command Shaw panicked. He spun around, and nearly fainted as he came face to face with a giant's head. The immense, malformed head sat on the field outside the fort and it was covered with spiders of various sizes and colors. The men on the walls noticed and cheers and chatter started up. Then, just as suddenly, the earth shook with a faint tremble under their feet.
"Hah, I totally beat him to the ground," Abby laughed. She'd been standing on top of the giant's head and Commander Shaw watched with grotesque awe as the spiders seemed to crawl into her body.
"So, are you satisfied they can help you win?" Ozone asked as Abby leaped off the head and landed gently in the line up again. Despite the unreasonable height, she landed with the grace of a single step from the head to the ground.
"Yep," Commander Shaw nodded with a grin.
"This is business, and I need to be sure," Ozone chuckled. "Do me a favor and say it slow. I want to be sure I heard you."