"Sure, it's a little bulky, to have to get 'em on a plane. But pull out a couple swords at your ex-girlfriends wedding they will never, ever forget it."
"That's funny Wade, I didn't think you like girls." Victor says.
"Right it is...it's probably not as intimidating as having a gun or bone claws or the fingernails of a bag lady."
Wade pauses sharpening his sword on the airplane flying in the rainstorm. Victor, Logan's brother, stares him down, his fingernails growing and Wade places his hand on the handle of his sword.
"Manicure?" Wade offers Victor.
"Victor..." Logan says. "Easy."
"Speaking of sharp, Fred got a new tattoo. I'm concerned."
Logan and I both look at the tattoo of the woman on Fred's arm.
"Jesus, Fred, you just met her last night."
"I love her." Fred says simply.
"You love her after one night?" Logan raises an eyebrow.
"She's a gymnast." Fred says.
"Bradley, take us down."
The plane swerves to the side. Logan moans next to me, his hands clasped together and his elbows leaned on his knees. He looks down at the ground.
"You gonna puke?" Fred says to him.
"If we were meant to fly we'd have wings..." Logan says.
"Aw, don't worry, Nancy. More people die driving than flying." David says.
"Yeah? How about impaling?"
"Hey, be nice! Or...your approximation of nice. Would you like a bucket?" John asks.
"Shut up and tell the guy to steady the damn plane." Logan mutters.
"He's not very good at being nice..." John says to Fred and I.
I give him a look reading, 'you think?'.
We arrive in Lagos, Nigeria, and look up at the tall, dark building looming in front of us. The only light is at the top floor, where the man who we're looking for is.
David steps forward towards the gate in the light, and instantly guards race to their guns and aim them at him.
They order him to put his hands behind his head and he obeys, then whips out the two guns which we stowed on his back and shoots every single guard there in less than a minute. The gate opens and we step forward. Victor automatically heads towards the building and races to the top of it, using his bag lady fingernails to get to the top.
"Um...Fred, maybe you could...?" David asks, pointing to the tank aimed at us.
"Okay." Fred says, and punches the front of the tank, which explodes.
I crane my neck to look up at the top of the building as the rest of the group begins to walk through the gate. We walk inside the building, and cram into the elevator. Obnoxious music plays right after Wade hits the button for the top floor.
Moments later, the elevator stops moving, and the lights shut off.
"Great, stuck in an elevator with five guys on a high-protein diet and one girl." Wade turns to me. "Hey." He raises his eyebrows.
I smirk and nudge him with my elbow.
"Oh Wade..." Stryker says.
"Dreams really do come true."
"Just shut it! You're up next." Stryker says.
"Thank you sir. You look really nice today. It's the green. It brings out the seriousness in your eyes."
"Oh my God, do you ever shut up, pal?" Logan says to Wade.
"Nope. Not when I'm awake."
I elbow Wade as an attempt to shut him up.
"Ouch. Your elbow is pointy." Wade says more quietly to me, rubbing his side where I elbowed him.
Bradley touches the side of his head like Charles did and soon the lights turn back on and the elevator's moving again. Everyone moves to either side of the elevator except for Wade, and once the elevator opens every guard in the room on the top floor fires their guns at the elevator. Wade blocks every bullet with his sword, moving out of the elevator and into the room. Every time he blocks a bullet, he takes a gunman down. In less than a minute there's silence.
"Okay, people are dead!" He calls with no enthusiasm.
Everyone gets out of the elevator.
"If you didn't have that mouth of yours Wade, you'd be the perfect soldier." Stryker says as he walks to the man we're looking for who's crouching behind his desk at the other end of the room. The man looks above his desk and sits back in his chair.
As Stryker approaches the man, I see him reach for an alarm and I look over at John. Our eyes meet and nod to him. Johnds nods back and then in the blink of an eye appears right behind the man.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." John says to the man, making him take his hand away from the alarm.
