"Well, that went better than expected," Miguel whistled as he jumped down from the truck, stretching as though to relieve muscle soreness... and his bones did release some resounding pops.
"Don't jinx it, dumbass!" Hanzo snarled as he parked his bike, its headlights going off.
He quickly pushed a button on the wall, and the lightings came on, exposing the junk wonder of the bunker.
It looked like a junkyard turned garage, with scrap metal, broken locomotives, iron bunks, and also what looked like broken automatons.
To one side of the wall, was a pod-like capsule, big enough to house a full grown man, and still have some space left in it.
Then at the center of the bunker, was a large table, scattered with piles and heaps of metal equipment and other metal junk.
Thorne jumped down from the truck, holding a briefcase in each of his hand, which he went to place on the table, with Marianne coming behind with the last one.
Marianne's eyes glinted as she saw Miguel's excited expression, and a predatory smirk curled up her lips.
"I hope you're this excited later tonight," she purred, sucking slowly on one of her finger, and causing Miguel to gulp... every smile, vanishing off his face.
Jasper as well alighted from his car, taking in their actions, he threw Miguel a cold look.
Due to the current situation, those who noticed it, couldn't help but try to piece in one and two, a small conspiracy suddenly blooming.
Miguel however, was too absolved in his embarrassment to notice, and Marianne seemed to not care.
"Alright, Roger up." Hanzo called, feeling the growing tension, and they all gathered to the work bench, taking seats with each other.
"Good job," Jasper started after they were all seated. "Nice work everyone..." His eyes flicked to Miguel with a mix of disapproval and begrudging acceptance, "you too."
His tone did not go unnoticed, but no one said anything. Although what Miguel did by opening fire could be seen as the right call, it was still jeopardizing to have done so without orders.
Just like it went right, it could have also spiralled downhill, and fast.
"I'm sorry," Miguel apologized, his expression calm.
Jasper just waved it off, and then his attention went to the cases on the table.
"Now, we just have to wait, for the call, and we can have this ticking bombs off our back."
"Aren't you curious though?" Thorne asked, looking at the briefcases with interest.
"About what?" Jasper's brows furrowed.
Thorne however, did not reply, only giving a faint smile, and pulling his attention back to the cases.
Though he didn't say anything, his implication was more than obvious.
"While the offer is more than tempting, it's dangerous kid," Hanzo shook his head. "Never heard the phrase, 'curiosity killed the cat, eh?'
"Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. Be thorough old bones," Marianne interjected, her lips curled up in a smirk.
However, her gaze was intently trained on the briefcases, so much so that her thoughts and Intentions were practically obvious.
Hanzo's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "You too?" He asked.
Even Jasper's expression tightened further.
"This gig was a little too secretive, and while the pay is good, many of the information we were given, was either incorrect, or lacking." Miguel added in, "it's only right we're compensated somewhat."
Jasper's expression tightened even further.
"Do you kids know what you're getting into?" Hanzo growled.
However, the way his gaze flickered to the cases more frequently now, seemed to say that even he found some inkling of truth in their reasoning.
He really was curious to know what was in it. Though he curbed this curiosity, and could rein it in better than the others.
As a veteran mercenary, he knew better than to be ruled by his desires, especially in this line of work. That was a sure fire way of heading to the grave.
Jasper groaned feeling a headache coming, even he too, could see Hanzo's faltering stance, and when he turned to the silent Nick, surprisingly or unsurprisingly, the young man was also curious.
But like Miguel had said, while the pay was huge, which happened to be the main reason why he had accepted the job, the information given was really insufficient.
He needed that money urgently as plus with his savings, maybe, just maybe, he could save his daughter. At the same time, he had to satisfy his crew.
Handling a crew of mercenaries who were ultimately free to do what they wanted, was like handling children, or handling a pirate ship. The crew members had to be satisfied, or regardless of the bond forged between them, a leader would easily find himself without crew anymore.
It was fine if they had just kept this curiosity inside, but now that they had spoken up, added to Miguel pointing out the obvious problem, it was almost impossible to deny them.
"Can you do it?" He asked Nick.
In response, Nick just pulled a foldable pair of glasses and immediately put them on. Then rummaged through the pile of junk on the table, and pulled out what appeared to be a light pen.
"This is really not a good idea." Old Hanzo muttered. However, there really was no power in his resistance, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"Leave no traces." Jasper warned, his eyes following Nick's actions.
In response, Nick for the first time, showed a change in expression no matter how miniscule, the side of his lips curling up ever so slightly.
Thorne smiled internally when he saw everything unfolding like he wanted. Truthfully, if he hadn't voiced out his curiosity, others might have kept silent, but since he did, he just had to let their emotions do the rest.
After his experience with that briefcase which he was certain now, was the real one and the one reacting to him, there was no way he was going to pass up knowing what that thing was. If possible, he would even take it for himself.
Did he know that his could potentially be disastrous? Yes he did, but he really did not care... Or did he?
*Click!*
The first briefcase opened after about a minute of Nick trying to break its safety mechanisms, including a set of passwords.
Opening it, what they found in it, was just a pile of ores that while invaluable in the slums, was side trash for those in power, those who could command the likes of Old ghost who was still missing, but they'd deal with later.
It was obvious at first glance that this wasn't the real one.
Nobody spoke, the tension rising higher, as Nick picked up the second case.
After a minute of fiddling with it, same results.
Thorne took a deep breath, his heart oddly racing in his chest, as Nick picked up the last one... The real deal!
*Click*