Kaushik's POV:

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Let's rewind a bit. After our grand speech, Alice practically branded us as someone with a few screws loose. Well I don't blame her. That speech wasn't exactly to comfort her. I very much doubt Alice noticed the true meaning behind our show.

I wanted to see if me and Mike could still think in sync or not. You see, we had this peculiar case of being in sync. From our childhood, we always thought, reacted, worked, fought in sync, to the point people would always ask if we could read each other's mind or not. As it turns out, we are still in sync.

After we had our meal almost everyone turned in except us and those who are on first shift of watch duty. Sometime past 3 am, we sneaked out and picked up the bandit trail. It wasn't hard. In every few meter or so, there was a scorched tree or a burn mark on the surrounding trees.

After following the trail for about an hour, I found a 4-story abandoned building in the distance as well as a bandit. He was well concealed upon a huge tree and I would have missed him if not for my sonar. I assumed he is a sniper. He was watching the open field in front of the building. My best guess is the sniper was watching for any movement from Alice's side.

Mike circled the open area and took out the sniper. The sniper had thermal goggles. But then, why couldn't he spot us? Turns out, our suit's thermal masking is a passive feature. So it is working even without the power cores. That was a close call.

Another fact, the sniper had a silenced rifle with him. Why silenced? Mike's best guess was it's to gain a tactical advantage in case a fight breaks out. The man was very well concealed and almost 99% people would have missed him. So amidst a fight, he could easily pick off any enemy without giving away his position.

Now we have a dead sniper and a fully loaded silenced sniper rifle. So we did what any sane man would do. Mike picked up the rifle and started taking out the bandits. I acted as his spotter. After we cleared out the area, Mike ditched the rifle. I went in through a broken window on the far left while Mike stood guard in front of the entrance.

Why not take the door? Cause there might be some form of defense, like electrified door which my sonar can't pick up. Why Mike stood guard instead of going in with me? It's to prohibit any bandit to run in case a fight breaks out.

Well I easily cleared out the ground floor. There wasn't any form of defense on the door or rather anywhere in the ground floor. I let Mike in and together we cleared out first and second floor pretty quickly. After we reached top floor, I saw the boss walking back and forth. There wasn't any pillars or anything in this floor. I saw Mike droop his shoulders. Yeah, if we hadn't ditched the rifle, we could have taken him out in an instant. Well it's no use crying over spilled milk.

I waited for the moment when boss will stop walking. I have a knife ready. All I need is one second. Just for one second, I need the boss to stay still.

I threw the knife just as boss stopped. But as my ALMOST 100% luck would have it, boss leaned forward just before the knife could strike him. The projectile hit the concrete wall and made a perfectly loud clink sound. I readied my second knife, but by then Mike had already threw a second knife.

The boss dodged the knife and threw a fire lance towards us. I am sure he hadn't seen us but our cover was already busted. He had hostages so we needed to divert his attention to us. We fully opened the door and came into light. Boss snorted after seeing us and threatened us while pointing his lance to the hostages. I took out the gift Guru gave me.

Guru called it a wingstick. A throwing disc, with six blades, sharp enough to behead a human. (http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/15/14898/inteng_2012-02-21_23-20-19-37.jpg). I threw it, fully knowing the boss would not kill the girls. How did I know that? Cause he kidnapped the girls for money. He can't afford to kill them, even more so when certain death is heading his way. Because right now, if he doesn't save his head, there won't be a head.

As expected, boss dodged the wingstick and threw a fire lance at me. I dodged and threw some knifes. I continued to throw projectiles to lead him away from the girls so that Mike can free them. But in doing so, my stock of projectiles started to deplete fast. Hurry Mike, I don't have all the day.

Rightly so, my stock of projectiles depleted shortly after. So I started dodging the lances thrown by the boss. But even I am having trouble dodging all the lances. He isn't exactly an accomplished marksman, true but those lances are hot, quite hot. I had to dodge by a long margin or else the sheer heat radiated from the lance would burn me.

Much to my relief, Mike had at last circled the boss and finally cut off his arm, distracting him. That was all I needed. He was readying another lance to impale Mike, but alas, I am much faster and accurate than the boss. I lunged forward and drove my knife through his neck, ending his life.

And now we come back to the present.

[Thanks Mike. I didn't know how much longer I could have kept dodging.]

~ You're welcome buddy. ~

I collected all my projectiles. You never know what one might run into. Better be safe than sorry. Mike went to the girls.

~ You are Alice's daughters? ~

"Who're you?"

The girl with shorter hair asked while shaking.

~ I am Mike and he is Kaushik. We are here to rescue you. ~

"Did mom send you?"

~ In a manner of speaking, yes. ~

"What do you mean 'in a manner of speaking'?"

~ Long story. I can tell you about it while we walk to the camp. ~

I intervene.

[Listen girls, we are really here to rescue you. But your mom didn't send us, we came on our own. Now come on, we need to get going.]

I stretch out my hand and urge them to move. Although hesitant, the girl with longer hair takes my hand and stands up.

"Thank you. I am Sena and this is Jin. Pleased to meet you."

[It's a pleasure.]

~ Likewise. ~

[We should get back as soon as possible. Everyone will be happy to see you.]

"You are right. Let's go."

We returned to camp without any incident. When we reached the camp, it was dawn. Guru was on watch as I heard him shout.

"Alice come here. The idiot duo has returned."

Alice shouted back from inside her bus.

"Is Sena and Jin with them?"

"They are."

I heard some crack and some plates breaking from the bus. Next moment, the door opened and Alice came running. Sena and Jin also ran towards Alice and hugged her.

"Sena! Jin! You okay?"

"Yes mom, we are okay. These gentlemen saved us."

"That bandit bastard didn't do anything to you, right?"

"If you are talking about him pushing us down, then no. But he slapped us a few times."

"Is he alive?"

"No. They killed him."

Alice separated herself from her daughters and looked at us. That gaze was full of killing intent. Then she spoke.

"Why did you go to save them?"

~ Cause we wanted to. ~

"You risked your neck for someone you never met just because you wanted to?"

[Yes.]

"Why?"

~ Like I said. We wanted to. ~

Alice rubbed her forehead as she sighed. She understood we weren't going to give a straight answer. She pondered for a minute before deciding something.

"You remember our contract?"

[Yes. We protect you during exchange, we get an inventory in return.]

"Good. Now since there will be no exchange, our contract is broken. Therefore you won't get your reward."

~ [WHAT!?] ~

'She did NOT just say that.'

~ Come on lady. We just risked our necks to get your daughters back. At least cut us some slack will you? ~

"As a trader, a contract is a contract. Since the contract has not been fulfilled, I have no reason to give you any rewards."

Great. We just saved both her caravan and her daughters, and this is how we get treated. Like I thought, she is a businessman through and through.

[(Sigh) Fine. At least let us travel with you to the town. We will think of something after we reach there.]

I dragged my feet to the tent. It's been a long night. Some food and a sleep will do me good. We just got taken advantage of but we can worry about that later.

"I said you won't be getting any reward for THIS contract. Did I ever say I won't make another contract with you?"

I stopped in my tracks. What did she just say?

~ You want to make another contract? ~

"I want you two to guard us during our travel to the next town. In return, I will give you two inventory, 100 gold and a place to stay. Sounds good?"