"Agent Texas. Due to your…hesitance to follow protocol on you last mission, you are to be out on…probation."
"Probation? I completed the objective!" Texas said, furiously.
"We understand, but you need to understand that the objective is not the only part of the mission that requires thought. You cannot just wipe out everything in your way to complete the objective." She grunted.
"Yes, sir. What are my orders?"
"Since you are currently suspended from your normal…line of work, you will be placed with a lower-level operative on reconnaissance."
"Lower level? Who?"
"Private Church. It is to our understanding that his skills need some work. We believe this is the best assignment for you."
"You're sending your top agent on recon…to help TRAIN A PRIVATE?!" She shouted, standing up.
"That is correct. You have your orders. Go to the armory to retrieve your repaired armor and meet your new partner at dispatch. Understand that this is not a one-time thing. This will be your assignment until we know that you can be trusted once again." Texas sighed and stomped away.
"Everything alright?" Asked Washington, who was on guard nearby. She nodded.
"Be out for a while. Guess who's on training duty?" She spat sarcastically. Wash put his hand on her shoulder.
"Don't be too rough on him. He's new." She shrugged his hand off and walked away to the armory.
"Name? Oh- hey, Texas. Let me grab your stuff." She was frequently here, seeing as her armor somehow got damaged every time she left base. She took her bag, thanked the man and headed to her quarters to change. Recon. She was okay with recon, but recon to train a private?! That was insulting. She pulled her long blonde hair back into a braid, tucking it into her helmet as she slipped on her armor. She strapped her knives on and tucked her pistol in its respective spot on her thigh. Grabbing a sniper from her weapons closet, she strapped it to her back.
"Man, it sucks that you won't be going out with us anymore, bro." Private Tucker said to his friend, Church.
"Yeah…"
"Any idea who your new partner is going to be?" the other man standing with them, Caboose, asked.
"I don't know much, but I know that she's a freelancer. Texas." A nearby man at the dispatch facility choked on his drink.
"Texas? She's the top freelancer in the program. She must've really pissed off command to get paired with one of you." The man laughed.
"Wow. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Jimmy." Church snarled.
"No problem, man. I'd watch out though, I've never talked to her personally, but I've heard that she's a major bitch."
"Great." Church sighed.
"Talking about me, I assume?" Texas asked, walking in. Jimmy straightened up.
"Uh- no ma'am. Y-yes ma'am." He stuttered.
"Smooth." She said. "Which one of you is Church?" Church stepped forward.
"I am."
"Okay. We're on Recon. Grab a sniper and a pistol, that's all you're going to want." She ordered.
"Understood." He said, doing what he was told and following her to the landing pad. There was a pelican waiting for them. When they were in the air, she spoke.
"Mission's simple. The base we're headed to is small and remote. The problem is, we haven't heard from them in over a week, leading us to believe it has been overrun by covenant. We have to go in quiet. We snipe any guards outside and then take out anyone inside. Then, we need to copy all security files onto this drive." Church nodded.
"Listen… I don't know what they told you, but I just got out of basic training. I still kind of suck… at everything." He confessed.
"Well, then we'll work on it. I take my job very seriously, and I need to be able to trust my partner. So, if you're my partner, then we'll work on it." He sighed nervously.
Eventually, they completed the objective. She did all of the sniping, he cursed every time he missed. She took out the inside forces while he managed to get the files. He was surprisingly good with computers. Before he went to bed that night, he got a memo from her.
Combat practice, first thing after breakfast. Freelancer training room 4.
All he could think was Oh, crap.
When he got there in the morning, the room was set up to kill him. There were sniping and knifing targets lined up against the wall, a mat set out for hand-to-hand and a rack along the wall with just about every type of training gun the military owned. He cursed.
"I'm gonna die." He muttered under his breath.
"Well, that's what we're trying to avoid, isn't it." She grunted, putting on her helmet. She was turned around, so all he got was a glimpse of blonde hair. "Today, we're working on target practice. You're horrible at sniping."
"Wow, it's great to know that you're so confident in me." He replied sarcastically.
"Shut up and get your stupid gun." She said firmly.
Day after day, they trained. Some days were better than others. He was improving, but slowly. Sometimes, Tucker and Caboose came to watch. Others, different freelancers came to help. One day, even the director stopped by to see his progress. Each day, Church would annoy the hell out of her. Each day, she would continue to be bossier and bossier. They were soon assigned more recon, which proceeded to get better each time. Their bodies got used to fighting together, it was all choreographed. The only problem was, they still could not stand each other. Most of their missions would end with a "God, you're such a bitch." or a "Go screw yourself, asshole." They were the ideal fighting team, but when they weren't fighting the enemy, they were fighting each other. Some people knew better, though. They saw the trust that was between them, the codependence. He wouldn't admit it, but whenever she was assigned to go on a co-op with someone else, he was insane with jealousy, and when she was assigned a solo op, he was overcome with worry.
Agent Washington had never seen someone get so close to Agent Texas before he met Church. She was the top agent in Project Freelancer, she preferred to work alone. Truthfully, she terrified him. They were friends, but that was only because they were used to working together. This guy- he was different. Wash could tell that she trusted him with her life. One day, she took a chance and decided to show Church a freelancer drill. She had asked Wash to come supervise. After a couple of times, they nailed it. They high-fived and he said,
"Great job, Tex!"
Tex. This man had just come up with a pet-name for Texas. Wash got ready to run, terrified she was going to blow up the base. Instead, she returned the high five and thanked him. He walked out of the room.
"What did I even just see?" He asked himself. Then, he heard cussing from the room behind him. That was more like it.
One day, something was stolen. A hard drive with freelancer personnel files. It was a dangerous mission, but command knew exactly who to send.
"Recon Alpha to dispatch." The orders rang through the hallway. They were in the training room at the time, so they dropped what they were doing to go change into their battlefield armor. Then, they met up at dispatch.
"Recon Alpha, this will not be easy. It is to our understanding that this drive is not guarded by several soldiers, but with only an elite squad. Your job is to go in quiet, eliminate the hostiles and get back that drive. Understood?"
"Yes, sir." They replied, climbing into the pelican. They were ready. Going in was easy, getting out… well that was the issue. After they had taken out the initial squad, a beacon went off for reinforcements.
"Church, get the drive. I'll take care of them." Tex shouted to him over the sound of the alarm.
"Tex! No, stay here! We'll take them together." She put her hand on his shoulder.
"Put the objective first. Get the info. I'll be fine."
"Alright." He agreed. He put his hand on top of hers. She flinched, and then she was invisible.
"God, Tex. I hate that armor thing." And then she was gone. It took a bit of time, but eventually he was able to get the drive out of the system. He stored it safely, reloaded his gun and went to find her. When he got out, she was pinned against the wall.
"Come on, lady, let's see how pretty you are with that annoying little helmet of yours off." A nearby creep told her.
"Go…to… hell." She said, wrapping her legs around the man in front of her and forcing him into the wall. When she was free, she took his pistol and shot him in the head. Church took that opportunity to shoot some of the surrounding men. When they were clear, he walked over to her.
"You alright?" He asked. Her armor was cut and torn in several places, and she had a deep gash on her thigh. She nodded and sighed. Then, a scream pierced through the air and she slumped against him. They had missed one. He wrapped one arm around her and used his free hand to take one of her hidden knives, embedding it straight in the man's forehead. He cursed.
"Command, this is Recon Alpha. We have completed objective, but encountered obstacles. We have wounded and are in need of evac right now." He radioed.
"Roger that. We'll be there within the minute." Command replied. He carefully slipped his hand under her legs, picking her up and taking her out to the pelican.
"Listen, I was within range so I didn't have time to pick up any medical assistance. I need you to keep her awake until we get back to base. Don't let her slip." The pilot shouted back to him.
"Okay, Tex. I need you to listen to me. You got shot in the back, and I need you to stay with me. We'll be back at the base soon and they'll be able to fix you. Listen, I'm gonna take off your helmet now, okay? It'll help." He cradled her in his arms and gently took off her helmet. He was greeted with a beautiful, tear-stained face and that same long blonde braid he had glimpsed their first day of training.
"Not…fair." She whispered. "My…helmet comes…off, so does… yours." She managed. He shook his head.
"You're so stubborn." Then, he took off his helmet. Emerald green met icy blue for the first time. "You know, Tex, you never did tell me your actual name." He said, thinking aloud.
"…Allison." She breathed. "My name is… Allison."
"Well, I'm Leonard. Nice to meet you." She snorted.
"What…kind of name…is Leonard?" She laughed and then cringed at the pain.
"An awesome one. Don't be jealous." He replied. "Hey, Tex?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't die yet, don't die before I tell you." He whispered, putting his hand on her cheek. She weakly reached up, placing her hand on his.
"I…won't." She whispered, and she fell limp.
"We're here!" The pilot shouted. He picked her up and ran past everyone, tears streaking down his face. He ran her to the medical bay.
"Help." He said when he got there. They took her from his arms and told him to wait in the waiting room. He slammed his fist against the wall and slumped into a chair. Then, he remembered. He got up and ran to command, delivering the drive.
"What happened?" Wash asked Church.
"Tex… she got shot in the back." He told him.
"She did? Is she okay?"
"I don't know. I'm on my way back over there."
"Church. You need to get out of that bloody armor before you go back." Washington told him.
"What?" He looked down, and for the first time he noticed that he was covered in her blood. "Oh, God. I didn't even notice. Thanks, Wash." Church went back to his room, hopped in the shower and changed, dropping his armor off at repair on his way back to the medical bay. When he got there, she was still in surgery. She was alive, that's all he needed to hear. Tucker and Caboose came down to sit by him.
"Is she okay?" Tucker asked.
"I don't know if I would say okay, but she's still here. For now."
"Dude… you totally love her."
"That's the first thing I'm going to tell her when she wakes up." Church said, looking down. Then, a doctor came out.
"Private Church?" He got up and walked over to the doctor. "You're Agent Texas' partner, are you not?"
"I am. What can I do?"
"We managed to get the bullet out, and she's stable. We were wondering if you could stop by her quarters and grab some clothes for her."
"Of course." Church replied. Then, he walked over to freelancer quarters.
"Hey, Wash, could you help me out?" He asked.
"Sure, Church. What's going on? How is she?"
"She's stable. They asked me to go get some clothes for her… could you show me where her room is?" Wash nodded and motioned for Church to follow. He stopped at a black door labeled TEXAS.
"Dude… I'm not going in there with you. She scares the hell out of me."
"Bro, she's not even here." Church says, rolling his eyes and entering the room. He walked over to her dresser and grabbed a sweatshirt, tank top and a pair of sweatpants. He also grabbed her hairbrush.
"Hey, Church?" Wash asked.
"Yeah?"
"….Do you love her?"
"God, is it really that obvious?" Church exclaimed. Wash laughed.
"Dude, everyone can see it."
"Dang. My cover is blown. Hopefully soon, I won't need it anymore."
"Good. You need to tell her."
"I'm planning on it. Alright, I should get this stuff back." Wash nodded and Church walked away, shutting her door behind him.
He handed the stuff to a nearby nurse and returned to the waiting room to sit with his friends while they helped her get dressed.
"You nervous?" Tucker asked.
"No." He responded, remembering what she had said before she fell unconscious. Then, a nurse appeared and he got up.
"Can I see her?" He asked. The nurse nodded and led him to the room.
"She's asleep, but you can sit by her if you're quiet." The nurse opened the door and he gasped. She looked pretty beaten up, but so at peace while she was sleeping. He quietly thanked the nurse and pulled over a chair. It was so fascinating to see her like this, when she was constantly either kicking other people's ass or kicking his ass. It was comforting to know she could be calm. He slipped his hand into hers and just watched her sleep, eventually dozing off. He woke up to a soft laugh.
"Leonard. What a stupid, stupid name."
"You're horrible."
"Oh, I know, I'm the worst." She smirked.
"Running off like that, almost dying. What a dick move." He responded.
"Eh, I was fine. I told you I wouldn't die." She responded. He leaned over and gently placed his lips on hers. She was shocked at first, but then relaxed into the kiss, lifting her arms and wrapping them around his neck.
"I couldn't let you die. Not before I told you that I loved you." He said, breaking the kiss and breathing heavily.
"You're such a sap, Leonard." She said before kissing him again.
"Oh yeah, whatever, Allison." She smiled.
"You're the first one at this base to ever say that name."
"I love it." He said, placing his hand on her cheek. "Just like I love you." He said, gently kissing her neck.
"God, I love you too." She sighed. He looked up and once again, emerald green met icy blue.
"How are you feeling?" A wave of concern crashed over him.
"It hurts. A lot. I've had worse." She said with a small laugh.
"Anything I can do?" He asked.
"Stay." She whispered.
"Of course." He replied, lacing his fingers with hers, kissing her hand and sitting back in his chair.
She was in the hospital for about a week, then she was able to move back into her quarters. Everybody knew that Church snuck in there every night, because when he didn't, they all woke up to her screams. Nobody commented when they saw them holding hands under the table, or caught them staring at one another whenever one looked away. They were too afraid that Tex would kick their ass if they mentioned it. One day, after weeks of arguing about it, she was spotted wearing an engagement ring. The only person who mentioned it was Jimmy, and he was never seen again.
So yes, she was a raging bitch that terrified everybody, and he was an annoying asshole that never shut up. The difference was, together, they worked. They were the only two people in the world that could ever put up with each other. In the end, all that really mattered was that they loved each other.
Even though they pretty much made the world's douchiest couple.