The Mercenary Line-Up

In creating a formidable adversary for the heroes in the story, there are many things to consider, especially a mercenary team to compliment STRATOS:

• Their nationalities, physical appearances and skills
• Their trademark behaviors and accents
• How they engage their opponents in words and fights
• Do they fight fair or use underhand tactics?
• How to craft each duel to end in a dramatic way

Being a visual person, I need to see facial expressions of the characters I'm going to create to effectively put them into motion in the narrative. As such, I usually search online for impressions I had in mind first, and then lined them up against the good guys, in this case STRATOS, to get a good match.

Next, I'll need to introduce them with a dramatic entry, though not too in details less it becomes draggy. Here's how it goes:

As the team (STRATOS) retreated to a predetermined rendezvous point where they could regroup and reassess the situation, bright lights suddenly flooded the dimly lit warehouse. Across the other end of the interior, a group of six mercenaries emerged from their covers, dressed in sundry outfits.

Leading the pack was a tall Eurasian with a shaved head and a scar across his cheek, speaking in a deep, commanding Russian accent. Following behind him were two women—a blond Croatian of athletic build with sicanje tattoos all over her body and a hijab-wearing Egyptian with a mysterious demeanor. Another three men appeared alongside these women—a heavy set Mexican of dark complexion and short black hair, a medium build Chinese with a dragon tattooed on his bare chest, and a suave-faced Chilean wearing an aviator sunglasses.

I'll leave the fun for my readers to match the descriptions to the photos above, and see if my descriptions are apt and accurate enough. Most fiction novel writers would expect their readers to use their imaginations when reading, but I thought "Heck, why not make it more interesting for my story and let my readers see some real, visual stuff instead?" That'll really ignite your imaginations and fuel your adrenalines.