(Well! Here it is! It was determined that the next story would follow Arizona, so please do enjoy, and if you have questions or suggestions, PM me/ review. Thanks!)
Matthew ran his fingers through his short dirty blonde hair and sighed rather tiredly; it had taken him about three hours, just to drive down to the area stated on the tightly folded letter in his hand. He was seated in a standard U.N.S.C. Pelican. Currently, he was the only person other than the pilot aboard the ship, his khaki-brown and red highlighted Mark VI helmet resting on his lap.
The sound of heavy boots crunching against the gravel outside reached his ears. He perked up, staring at the open rear hatch.
A rather feminine looking soldier, though it was a bit hard to tell since the person was wearing their helmet, and the seafoam green and black highlighted armor looked slightly heavier than the typical variant of her armor masked most of the features. She entered the small plane and sat opposite of Matthew.
"Hi," he greeted the soldier with a warm smile, relived to finally have someone to talk to. He recieved a small wave back.
"Who're you?" she - the voice confirmed it- asked him in a quieter voice than that of normal pitch.
He unfolded the paper in his hand, glancing at his assigned codename. "Arizona."
"Louisiana," she said, extending a hand. He shook it as he refolded the paper along the tight creases.
He leaned back in his seat, staring curiously at this new arrival. "Anyone else come along with you?"
She shook her head and mumbled, "Not anyone I know personally... took a bus."
He shrugged as he slipped on his Mark VI helmet.
A minute or so later, the Pelican started to fill up with the freelancer recruits, all differently armored and colored: a dark gray and indigo; a female agent with a Hayabusa-type left shoulderpad and chestplate (the other parts of her armor were Mark VI) in the color of midnight blue and a luminous aqua as her secondary; a coral and brown agent had followed them shortly; a rather tall person with bright green and white amror: an EOD helmet with CQB armpieces; finally, a leather-brown and slate blue female adorned with an old Mark V model helmet took her seat with the rest of the girls on the left side of the Pelican.
"So," the dark gray soldier said from beside him. "Hi. I'm Wisconsin."
"Arizona," he responded with a small wave. "That's Louisiana, by the way," he added, pointing to the seafoam green soldier opposite him.
"Okay, people. Leaving orbit in five," the pilot's gravelly voice came over the PA.
"Minutes or seconds?" asked the dark blue. She was answered as the engines roared to life and she along with a few others who hadn't strapped themselves in started to drift upwards. "Oh, shit - nevermind!" she said nervously and gripped the edges of her seat tightly.
"Any of you guys remember the name of this ship?" questioned Louisiana.
"The Mother Of Invention, right?" Arizona said, half guessing.
"Yep," said the bright green soldier with a nod.
The rest of the trip consisted of them introducing themselves to one another and general chatter. The dark blue was called Missouri, the leather-brown was Kentucky, the bright green was codenamed Illinois, the coral one was Delaware, Wisonsin was the gray-indigo, and of course, Louisiana and himself spoke up.
"Opening the rear hatch." the pilot announced into the PA.
"Damn, we're already here?" said Kentucky in surprise as an enormous, wide room filled with generous amounts other planes, supplies, pilots, and a few agents here and there.
"Welcome to your new home," said the pilot from the door of the cockpit.
"Thanks," Arizona said to him as he exited the Pelican.
"This is where we'll live now?" said Louisiana from beside him. Now that they were standing up, he noticed that she was about a quarter a head shorter than him.
"Suppose so." He couldn't help but grin at Louisiana looking all around the huge hangar in amazement. Her head swiveled in all directions as she truned around on her heel.
"Please follow me," someone said from his left. He looked away from Louisiana's turning form to see a tall, dark man in what was evidently a crew member uniform. His voice was a flat, put-someone-to-sleep monotone. "The Director would like me to assist in showing the arrivals around.
Without further ado and a few shrugs exchanged, the small group of recruits followed the man, more than one of them engulfed in excitement.