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Freelancer Home Base aka "Standoff"

Aaron Kane takes several deep breaths before slowly lifting his hand up and knocking on the heavy wooden door. After a few seconds a loud, heavily accented voice yells, "Enter!" Aaron's heart is racing at the thought of getting this new job. He turns the handle and enters into the small office of the Director of Project Freelancer, Dr. Leonard Church.

Dr. Church looked up from his papers and, seeing this new recruit, he changes his tone from gruff to welcoming, as to make a good first impression. "Hello, are you Private 1st class Aaron Kane? Please, take a seat." He said motioning to the chair directly in front of his desk.

Aaron was shocked at the suddenness of the change in tones. As he slowly walks in, he scans the small room. The only thing that sparked his interest was the cane that the Director was using, and the black man sitting in a chair, writing in a note pad. Aaron quickly realized that this was the Councilor, who was the Director's right-hand man.

Seeing Aaron's attention had shifted to the Councilor, Leonard clears his throat, not impatiently, but just to shake the focus of the young recruit. Leonard had read this kid's file. He has graduated collage with a 4 year diploma in advanced Artificial Intelligence research. And he was, in the Director's opinion, the best soldier in his unit. He achieved all of this before age 22. His file also said, that he joined the army at 17, they made "a special exception" for him because of his accuracy tests, and his scores on the training missions that they put him through. Leonard was definitely impressed with Aaron. But it all came down to the interview.

After Aaron took his seat the interview finally began. "So, Aaron," the Director said. "I understand that you are only 22, but your file says that you have a four year degree in Artificial Intelligence research. How is that possible?"

Aaron, not wanting to lose his cool, took a couple more calming breaths before starting. "Well, I don't really like talking about this, but I was very smart as a kid. I was always being put in advanced classes. So I graduated High School earlier than most kids my age. So when the collage saw my record, they were astonished, and let me in a year early."

"Well, that's quite some achievement. And it also says here that you joined the army at the age of 17, when the minimum age requirement is 18." Leonard said, not looking up from his file.

"Yes, I lied about my age for them to let me try an accuracy test, and I did the best out of everyone there. Someone even said that I was better than Agent Washington. I didn't know who that was at first, but I went home and researched his name on the web, and I found a whole lot of stuff on Project Freelancer." 'Hopefully, he won't know that I had to hack my way in…' "And that's how I heard of this job opening, I feel bad to say this, but I am grateful for the opening. But I am truly sorry for the loss of poor Agent Carolina. How did she die again? Drug overdose?"

Leonard looked up in astonishment. How did this kid know so much? Was he a friend to Carolina? He didn't have time to figure out, but instead he stood up and extended a hand and said, "Welcome to Project Freelancer, Agent Michigan."