It was his first day and he was nervous. He had only ever heard rumors about Project Freelancer. They were the best of the best, or so he was told.
David had always been the best shot back in basics. Able to make shots that nobody even thought possible. Maybe that was why, when he finally graduated, he got the letter. The letter was simple. There were no congratulations or specific details. All it said was simply, "You have been accepted into Project Freelancer. Your codename is Agent Washington, you will report to station B for transport to headquarters. It wasn't signed.
David or, Washington, as he was apparently to be called now, being one to always listen to orders, went to station B and boarded the transport without question. Though on the outside he seemed to be relaxed, calm, and passive, behind his helmet he face showed curiosity and nervousness.
For some reason, he was reminded of the first day of school. Worried how well you would do, worried if you would fit in with the students in attendance. If you didn't like it, it was a bad place to be for four years of your life.
This wasn't school. Washington didn't know much about the project, but it didn't seem like the kinda place that you were allowed to just transfer out of. If he didn't like the project, it was gonna make his life hell for the remainder of it.
The transport finally arrived at some base and dropped Washington off. He entered the base cautiously. There were dozens of soldiers already there. The project had apparently already been recruiting for a while.
Washington walked up to the man who was apparently heading the operation and handed him his acceptance note. The man took the letter from him and handed him a folder in return marked Agent Washington.
Washington quickly went through the folder hoping to find information on what the hell he would be doing with the project.
He didn't find anything interesting explaining the purpose of the program, only a paragraph stating that they were going to end the war against the covenant, and make the galaxy safe for Earth and her colonies. Nothing more, nothing less. Wash shrugged. That sounded good to him.
The folder also had information in there pertaining to training sessions, meetings, where the mess hall was, where the boarding rooms where and which one he would be staying in.
His room was 11b on the west corridor. He would be sharing the room with somebody named Agent Maine. Washington shrugged and went off to meet his new roommate.
The walk over to the west corridor was short and he made it to his room in no time. He opened the door and walked in, expecting to be accosted by his new roommate right away, but the room was empty.
One side of the room already seemed to be taken. There were books in the shelves pertaining to war and strategy, a lamp on the bedside table, and a trunk at the foot of the bed.
Washington went over to the side of the room that was apparently his own and quickly unpacked his stuff. His Harry Potter books seeming unprofessional next to his roommate's books on actual war.
Once he was done with unpacking, Washington decided that he might as well go and meet the people that he would be working with. Maybe he would even find his roommate Maine.
Washington walked over to where he remembered seeing all the agents. A room that was apparently the commons area.
The room was already full of agents, talking and conversing, unwinding after classes or training sessions. Unlike with his room, Washington was immediately approached by a soldier in tan armor.
"Hey!" the mysterious soldier said in a friendly tone. The man stopped in front of Wash and gave him an once-over. "You must be the rookie that they were going to accept, Agent…" The tan soldier trailed off and gave the gray soldier an expectant look.
"Washington." Washington finished for the tan soldier, his expression souring a bit at having been called a rookie. "And I'm not a rookie. I finished top of my class at basics in sniping."
The tan soldier laughed. "Yeah but you're still a newbie. You don't even look like you're old enough to drink." Apparently deciding he'd picked on the new recruit enough, the tan soldier started an actual conversation.
"I'm Agent New York. I used to break into things for fun, thought why not join the army, might keep me out of jail. Turns out getting into places is a valuable skill. They don't even call it breaking and entering, they call it infiltration." The soldier apparently known as New York smirked a little bit, putting emphasis on the word infiltration.
"That's cool." Washington said, unsure of what the right response should be. "It's nice to meet you New York."
New York shook his head. "Nah, don't call me that. Too long. Call me York. It's short, sweet, and still sounds totally kick-ass. Perfect for me don't you think Wash?"
Wash was taken aback by the new nickname, but decided to just go with it. "Yeah sure. Do you know where I can find Agent Maine?" he asked.
It was York's turn to look taken aback. "What do you wanna do that for?" he asked.
Wash didn't think that was a good sign. "I thought I should meet him, I mean he is my roommate. We'll have to cross paths eventually.
York shrugged. "If I were you, I'd want to put off on the meeting." York then pointed to a huge soldier standing quietly in the corner of the room, back to the wall, not talking or interacting in any way with anyone around him.
"Well he seems friendly." Wash said dryly.
"He's not." York said his tone completely serious for once." He doesn't talk to anyone, doesn't hang out with anyone, and he is most definitely not friends with anyone. He nearly ripped Nebraska's arm off last training session for saying that his technique was a bit sloppy."
Washington gulped. "I should probably go say hi anyway. I mean he's gotta be curious who his new roommate his."
York gave a dry laugh. "You're a brave man Wash. You're probably a dead man, but hey, at least you got to do something stupid before you died."
York gave him a look. It was a look that you gave your friend before they did something that, while totally awesome, would most likely end badly.
"You're not bad. For a rookie." He added as if it was an afterthought. "You should eat lunch with us. I bet South would just love you."
With that, York left to go be with the two purple freelancers that he had been talking to before he had come to harass Wash. One of which Wash presumed was South.
Wash steeled his nerves and walked over to the white freelancer with the domed head. "Hey." He called tentatively.
The big soldier turned at looked at him, seeming to stare right through to his soul. Wash shrunk back a little, but steeled his nerves yet again. "I'm the new agent, Washington, but you can call me Wash. Apparently it's like my new nickname or something. We're going to be sharing a room, because we're roommates and that's what roommates do. I'm your new roommate, don't know if I mentioned that."
He was rambling and he knew it. More importantly, Maine knew it, and he was getting annoyed at this annoying new agent who he was apparently going to be stuck with as a roommate.
Maine sighed. What a long job this would be. He held out his hand and shook the smaller man's hand. The grey soldier flinched slightly, but Agent Maine made no signs that he was going to rip his arm off.
"Maine." Maine said quietly, his voice deep and craggy. "Wash." Wash felt the need to repeat. "Friends?" he asked. This was definitely not a man that he wanted as an enemy, especially one who slept in such a close proximity.
"Roommates." Maine clarified. Wash was relieved, not friends, but roommates was better than, 'I'm gonna kill you.'
Maine started to walk off, back to their room presumably. Wash felt the need to tell him. "I'm gonna have lunch with some of the other agents if you want to come and join us or something."
He swore he heard the older agent laugh. "Don't push it." That was all he said before he head off.
Wash stood there staring after him. He already had lunch buddies, and his roommate probably wouldn't murder him in his sleep.
Maybe this Project Freelancer wouldn't be so bad after all.
And thus yet another fic is done. I feel so accomplished. Please review my story, everytime you don't review, Hippy the evil bunny kills another cute adorable puppy. I own nothing, I have no clue why you'd think that.