And it's up, finally! This is the story Big Z and I were working on together. Also, if the break is () it's a POV change and if it's a ... it's just time passage. Hope you like it!

Petch leaned up against the tree, her eyes shut tightly as her head twitched back and forth. Inside her head there was running, screaming, and trouble. The day she lost her team, the darkest day in her history. Suddenly she gasp, her eyes shot open, and she found herself falling over onto the ground. She shook her head clear and stood up, wiping herself off as she looked around, starting to remember where she was and how she got here, the nightmare fading away. She sighed and grabbed her helmet, putting it back on over her head and looked around yet again, humming in thought.

Where was her team? It seemed to her that they had simply disappear. She shrugged and walked through the river, hoping that maybe she'd find somebody. As she walked through it she thought of her team, the one she lost. It had been a massacure, bloody and horrible. It was a wonder that she was able to stop herself from thinking about it while hanging around her new team, through admittedly it was a challenge. Cogg was a lot like Max, Zoey reminded her a lot of Sarah, Ace was like Carly, Guy always made her think of James, Big Z was like Ethan, and Unknown-she found herself halting at the thought-Unknown was a lot like Brian. She sighed.

Brian had been a great man, very kind and cared about everyone close to him. She had always had a bit of a crush on Brian, but the day he died was they day she promised herself that she'd never care for anyone like that ever again. She sighed and kept walking, a smile starting to creep across her lips. Ethan was very tall, six four to be exact, and was friends with everyone he met, but he was overly found of her, saying that she reminded him of his little sister who was the same age. Ethan would always call her Two Shades, seeing as her left eye was a brighter shade than her right. She stopped as she spotted Big Z leaning against red base and walked over to him.

()

Big Z sat against the base, staring out at the great lake before him, in his hand was a single chain with fourteen dog tags attached to it, one for every member of the Tiger Platoon. He had been holding them since he had become the last survivor of his unit. His helmet was on, allowing him to conceal the pained expression on his face as he fought the urge to allow his emotions to control him and that struggle seemed to shake him with each ragged breath he took. The tags jingled as he unconsciously toyed with them, rubbing the indented metal writing that contained the military's record on his now passed platoon. He knew every name and its corresponding tag by instinct now, he had always found a voice in the back of his head begging for him to take them out and look into them and search them for the answer to a question he had been searching for ever since the very first of his friends died.

"How do I move on?"

The words rang out quietly as he whispered them to himself, thinking of the answer to that question. But as always he had no idea where to start. Death was something that always seemed to stay with those that had managed to avoid a visit, and even amongst the living it seemed that Death himself semed to pulling the strings inside their minds. The instinct to look to the side and seek out a friend that was no longer there, the inkling to ask for advice from a long lost mentor, to joke around with a dead buddy. It is something that must be confronted and worked at. It something every soldier must face. It was something that Z had avoided facing.

I'm just Death's instrument, I just do the dirty work for him. I pull the trigger and then hope for the best, expecting the worst and seem to always get the worst. I'm a soldier, no more no less, and that is all I will be. And soldiers must face death, and make it a fact of everyday life.

Those thoughts were something that he had come to understand now that he had been a soldier for nearly two years, seeing the worst and the best sides of war. Those words were nearly identical to what his Lieutenant had told him the day he had first killed and was trying to justify it. So now here he was, going through the next phase, learning how to deal with being on the receiving end of Death's cruel plan. There were fourteen tags in his hands, fourteen lives extinguished before his own eyes, fourteen families without a loved one, fourteen friends never to be seen again.

If you're to face loss then you must first lose. You must be beaten down until you have dig your way out. Then you can climb back up, and accept loss. It's the hardest thing a man can face, but you have to do that. If you don't you'll never be able to get rid of that loss.

"I can't let it beat me, too much depends on it," he whispered to himself, "these guys here need me. And I need them. If I allow myself to be held back then I can't move forward, I need to move forward, I need to." Then the sound of footsteps behind him alerted him to someone else coming up beside him, to his left to be exact. Z pocketed the tags and turned to face the Red who had walked up to him.

()

Petch approached the red solider with ease, not being tense in her movements as she normally had been around the Freelancer hating simulation solider. She had realized that she was worried about nothing, it wasn't like he was going to find out, was it? Nah, of course not. Petch gave Z a firm nod and was about to say something when she heard footsteps coming down the ramp of the base. She turned and saw Carolina coming over to approach them. Petch gave a slight sigh. Having known Carolina Petch knew that she was going to ask them to do something, probably scout work with what the circumstances were.

"Hey, you two," she said harshly as she stopped just a few paces away from them. Petch looked over at Carolina with a roll of her neck, saying loud and clear in the action that she didn't like her in the slightest. As she made this movement Carolina tensed and Petch sensed her glare even from behind her visor. "I need you too scout out what's ahead of us, and heading out now would be great." Carolina then turned on her heel and walked away. Petch rolled her eyes.

"Of course, whatever you say your highness," she mocked with a salute. Big Z chuckled a bit at the remark and Petch smiled. Petch walked over to the middle of the canyon, looking around for a mode of transportation. She looked over at Big Z tapped her shoulder and pointed over at the Pelican. She looked up at him. "That's called stealing." Z smirked.

"Yeah, and I call it recon," he told her. Petch laughed a little at that. "Besides, Carolina never said we couldn't use it." Petch nodded and motioned for him to follow her over to the Pelican. "Hey, you know how to fly this thing?" Petch smiled at the inquiry and turned to look at him as she entered the cock-pit.

"Taught by only the best," she told him as she sat in the pilot's chair and started the Pelican. And of course by 'the best' Petch meant 479er, though she couldn't tell him that. Z chuckled and closed the hatch, walking up to the cockpit and standing beside her, his arm resting on the back of the pilot's chair. "Up, up and away." The Pelican slowly became airborne and Petch smiled as she leaned back in the seat. "Now we just need to keep an eye out on where we go." Z nodded and sat in the co-pilot seat, looking out the window to 'keep an eye out', to use Petch's own words.

...

Petch let out a small yawn and leaned forward to look out of the window, seeing if there was anything they could use to rest during the night yet. They had gone pretty far, and by this time when they left tomorrow it would already be nightfall. She tensed at the sight. Below them was an old base that was obviously an old Freelancer training ground, just like the Red and Blue bases back in Valhalla, but this was only one base, and it was old by the looks of it.

"This would be a good place, dontchya think?" Z stated. When he didn't get a reply he looked over at Petch. Her helmet rested on the control panel so he could clearly see her expression of horror. Z tilted his head. "Petch?" She reached up to her neck and placed her hand there, her fingers messing with six chains resting there. She swallowed in a funny way and turned to look away from the window. Z stood up from his seat and walked over to stand beside her. "Ma'am?" She looked up at him, almost seeming startled by his presence, but it soon faded.

"Let's just, keep going," she said quietly. Z shook his head firmly and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her gently out of the chair and taking her place. Petch watched as his hands zoomed over the controls, the Pelican coming to a land. "Z, what the hell are you doing?" The other soldier didn't answer as the Pelican landed. Petch watched as he stood by the hatch, opening it and turning to look at her. Petch looked at him, not giving any expression. She grabbed her helmet, put it on, and walked out with a tensity in her step that did not go unnoticed by the man standing by the door.

"What happened here?" Z asked, walking over to one of the walls and running a hand along it. Petch didn't answer, simply looked around in silence. Z looked over at her. "I asked you a question." Petch looked over at him, as if unsure. She sighed and walked over to one of the walls, tapping it with her right index finger.

"My old team," she said slowly. "This is where they died." Z tensed and watched in silence as a door opened and Petch walked through, he followed her. But the moment he entered he found that she was gone, he looked around, confused. "Look out!" An arm grabbed Z by the wrist and yanked him out of the way as a turret fired on him. "The bases AI must still be here, so keep an eye out." Z nodded and the two walked through the base in silence, suddenly jumping apart as a turret fired on them.

"Catch!" Z shouted, tossed Petch the shotgun she had accidentally dropped. She caught it mid-air and gave him a firm nod before dodging yet another turret's fire. Z dodged as well and fired upon one, getting it to fall over onto the ground from where it stuck up from the ground. As this happened Petch had leaped behind a crate to avoid two shots. She let out a sigh of relief as they just barely missed her. She looked over to the wall and saw the familure sight of FYLSS's control panel.

"FYLSS, shut down the program," Petch said firmly, waiting until she heard the whirling of the turrets shutting off. As this happened Z kicked one, letting out a small huff as it shut down and walked over to find Petch. As he did he froze as the computer spoke.

"Of course, I apologize Jersey, I did not know it was you," came the AI's voice. Z's teeth clenched at the name as he took a few steps back before jogging off. Petch let out a sigh and thanked the stars that FYLSS had been quiet, so hopefully Z hadn't heard. Without warning the lights immediately shut themselves off as the facility lost its only controlling system, FILSS, but the dark didn't last long, as immediately the emergency lighting system activated, bathing the whole facility in a dark red light. It wasn't preferred but it was better than nothing. So when Petch walked out into the main chamber filled with all manner of weapons and equipment. The remnants of their own recent struggle against the automated defenses were still there, but there was one crucial thing that was missing.

"Hey Z?! Where are ya?" she called, hearing nothing in return. Not even the quiet humming of power conduits or air conditioning vents graced her ears. There was nothing but still air. Where had he gone? She thought to herself as she walked to the floor of the warehouse. She looked all around seeing nothing but the emptiness of the dark room. She could barely make out the shapes of the containers and storage units around her. It was almost scary, like a horror movie she had seen once, but that movie ended with all the characters getting eaten by a swarm of meat eating space aliens. The memory of that sent shivers down her spine until she heard the familiar sound of footsteps coming up from behind her.

"There you are, come on let's…"

BANG!

A single fist to the visor was the instant reply from the black and red giant. Petch was catapulted back into a heavy storage unit and hit with a hollow metallic clang. She fell forward, dazed by the sudden blow that she had just received and looked up. There was Big Z, walking towards her, his posture robotic and serious. His fists were curled tight, and in one, he held his knife, and the glint of the metal reached her eyes and she realized, he knows.

He continued towards her, challenging her to a fight. Petch stood upright and tried to talk with him, get him to see the side of reason, to get through to the human under the mask of anger.

"Z what are you doing? I'm not a Freelancer anymore!" she cried as he continued to close in.

"That's **, why else would that A.I. call you Jersey? Last I checked that's short for New Jersey, which means only one thing. One of us going to die here," he hissed, anger dripping from every word.

"I left Freelancer several years ago, I had nothing to do with fighting the Reds or Blues until then!" she continued as she saw that Z changed his posture and then bull rushed her head on.

The Red slammed into the container at full speed as Petch spun to the side and backed away, trying to get some space between the two of them. But she had to duck to avoid being slashed by a nearly two feet piece of steel blade. She drew her own knife, only to defend herself.

"Z! I had nothing to do with your unit! There is no need for this!"

"Yes there is."

She steeled her own resolve and readied herself into her fighting stance.

"I will defend myself."

Then the two knives connected and Petch dove under the next attack and rolled under the swinging arm of Big Z who brought his leg up in an attempt to kick at her but she used her right hand to block it and then shoved the leg back with her left hand, throwing her own punch at Z. But he blocked it with his own arm and then slashed with his opposite hand connecting with Petch own knife again. In the blink of an eye Petch threw another jab at him expertly which was dodged, but her arm and the strength with which she threw the attack betrayed her, as she exposed her own ribs, and she suffered for it. A powerful blow connected with the armored section, and Petch felt herself lifted an inch off the ground and felt the wind being forced brutally from her lungs. She crumpled down but felt her arm being grabbed and twisted around behind her back.

She felt the twisting pain shoot up her arm and screamed from the pain. Desperate to get out his grip she pounded his visor with a powerful blow with her elbow and then twisted herself around flipped Z over on his back. But he rolled out the way quickly and was back on his feet, charging at her again. She jumped back when he brought his down in a stabbing type move and let him stumble forward a bit and then tried to jump kick at him but the kicks were blocked by hands thrown up in the nick of time. When she came back down she had to dodge again, ducking under another slash from the deadly Bowie Knife. She kicked at his knee this time, connecting and making Z hit the ground with said knee, but she attempted to punch down she had her hand grabbed and then thrown to the ground. It was a nasty hit, as she could almost feel a rib aching from cracking from the force of the throw. Her helmet had come off, as she saw it rolling on the ground not a few feet away.

Before she could get up however, she had a knife pressed to her bare throat. Her face must have betrayed her fear, as she swore she heard the large Red smirk beneath the visor. The knife pressed hard against the bare flesh ready to slice her open like a fish, and the pressure was enough that she dared not move. But she continued to resist throwing up her arms in an attempt to get free. The dangerous knife was knocked away and she connected with Z's face and again in his elbow. Then a brutal blow from his armored fist struck her right in the face and she tasted the blood and felt the pain from the blow and then pressure from his knife pressing up against her jaw with the blade right at her trachea. The silence of her own breathing was not the only thing that she could hear, as her own heartbeat was now violently pounding in her ears. She felt the blade increase its pressure and she saw the dark black silhouette of Big Z radiated by the blood red lights not two feet from her face. Then Z leaned down over her.

"Any last words?" Petch tried to reach for her pistol, but found that it was not there and lay on the floor a few inches away, though it was enough so that she couldn't reach it. She cursed and opened her mouth to say something, though she had no idea what she was going to say, but as she started to speak a sniper rifle's gunshot rang out and Z let out a yelp as it hit him in the ribs, knocking him off of her and onto the ground. Petch gasped.

"Z!" she screamed, getting to her feet and grabbing the pistol, aiming it at the owner of the sniper. She narrowed her eyes at them as she saw white armor. "Wyoming...?" The ex-Freelancer lowered his weapon in sync with Petch and they just looked at each other for a long moment. Petch growled and aimed her pistol back at him. "What the hell are you doing here? You're supposed to be dead, not only that but in hell!" Wyoming took a step back, tilting his head slightly. "Done give me that, you signed me up for the Pslams project, it's you're fault I'm like this, and now you've gone off and shot my teammate! Get out of here, NOW!" Without hesitation the brit ran out of the room, leaving Petch to tend to the wounded soldier who had now fallen unconscious.

There is an equiplog, don't worry. And it will be up soon. And it also has a lot of answers in it ;) *looks at word count* 3,460 words?! That's the most I've ever done! Wow... I think I got a teeny bit carried away. Heh.

Anyway, thanks for reading, please review, and have a bow chicka bow wow day!
Perla: and may it be the best one ever, of all time.