A/N: this takes place in the RVB universe just before the appearance of Tex for the first time. "dialogue" no I do not own either Rooster Teeth Productions or Halo so don't sue

Freelancer Vermont had just finished being debriefed by the Director and was approaching his quarters when he realized something was abnormal. There was a guard standing outside his room and his MA5B rifle was at the order arms position with only a swift movement required to bring it into a firing position. He wondered at this but approached the guard and asked," why are you standing outside my quarters, private?"

The private paled and said" Sorry sir but you have been scheduled to have your AI, Beta removed due to the fact that numerous AI's are going Rampant(1), and we want to store him in a secure location." Vermont smiled and in one fluid motion grabbed the rifle, slammed it up into the private's nose and yanked it away as the private fell to the ground, stunned or dead. His helmet made a loud crash as it hit the floor, creating a clamor that worried Vermont. He activated the infrared sensors in his artificial eyes, the natural ones having been lost in a firefight with some Covenant Spec-Op grunts and saw in his quarters 5 guards armed with M7 SMGs, wearing jet-black bodysuits with a polarized visor, and now all facing the door.

Sighing, the Freelancer considered his options: he could just walk away from the room, an option that he immediately decided against; all his equipment was still inside the room. He could fight, and very likely win, but would be badly wounded. The black jumpsuit he was wearing was not tested against bullets, as it was intended as a buffer between a Freelancer and their MJOLNIR armor.

He searched the prone guard, and found a couple of fragmentation grenades, a combat knife, a flashbang, and three extra clips for the MA5B. He smiled, and reached for the assault rifle.

The door to the room slid open, and the guards all opened fire in unison spraying the wall outside the door with several dozen bullets. A cloud of smoke filled the air, blocking out sight of the doorway. A second later, a small cylinder flew inside the room from the other side of the doorway, and hit the floor. There was a blinding flash of white light, a tremendous bang, and then just nothing.

Vermont smiled, flipped the toggle fire switch on his assault rifle to the "safe" position, and inspected his handiwork. The guard's visors apparently were not bulletproof, as he had feared. There was a small cluster of holes in the middle of each of their foreheads, a testament to Vermont's deadly accuracy, even with an inaccurate weapon like the MA5B, which was why Vermont was always the designated sniper on a mission.

Vermont keyed in a code on his 'pad, and a hidden compartment in the wall slid open, revealing a stand with his black Hayabusa armor on it. Next to it was a rack containing a M6D pistol, 2 energy swords, and a BR55 rifle. Both the guns had several magazines in the shelf below the rack of its respective weapon. Without wasting a moment, Vermont slipped the armor onto his body. Last of all, he put the helmet over his head, and it flickered to life, the HUD showing his room. The suit quickly ran through the standard startup diagnostics and showed that all systems were in the green. He grabbed the weapons off the rack, slipped the pistol into a side holster, following up by putting the swords in their hidden sockets on his wrists, then putting the BR on his back where magnetic clamps held it in place.

Before Vermont left however, he wanted to see if a couple friends wanted to leave now before Command heard about his refusal to obey orders. He estimated that he had some 30 minutes before base security wondered why this patrol had not reported in. He pulled up the base's security cameras controls on his datapad and created an electronic ghost of himself and the guards walking down to the AI bay and he removed the guard's bodies from the screens in his room and the outside corridor. He flipped through camera images before he saw his target. It looked as though Colorado and Washington had heard about the AI removal and were reacting differently. Colorado was shooting his way through base security with Tex in the vehicle pool while Wash paced around his room.

He dismissed asking Wash if he wanted to leave; he had been accepted into the elite Recovery unit and was not turning his back on Command now. Colorado however looked like he could use a hand and he had been nice somewhat to him during basic. Tex, he was sure could use a lift out to her boyfriend's outpost and besides, Colorado owed him a favor that he was in the mood to collect. He strode out of his room and accessed the base's safety systems, triggering the fire alarm. At that moment, the fire alarm's sirens went off and a computer generated voice announced" Warning, there has been report of a fire in the base. All personnel are requested to please evacuate the base. This is not a drill." While the alarm blared, he accessed the hanger systems, and from there he used the remote startup codes to prep a Longsword interceptor that was slated for a recon mission.

He activated his armor's holographic generators and the Spartan vanished to reappear disguised as a guard, clad in one of the bodysuits like the ones in his room wore. He called Colorado on his COM while running off towards him, and said" I see that you aren't in the mood to give up your AI as well. I have a offer for you, we can fight our way to a ship, and we will escape. I cannot raise Tex so ask her if she wants a ride out to Blood Gulch. I am disguised as a guard in a black bodysuit."

He replied after a minute" Tex and I are in but how will you disable the SAM batteries?"

Vermont said," They never found Beta's back door into the air defenses so I'll override them and we can escape in the confusion."

He then arrived just as the guards decided to try using one of the Scorpion tanks to kill the Freelancers. Vermont slipped on top of the tank and hijacked it after a quick struggle with the driver and said" Need a ride?"

Tex said" took ya long enough."

Vermont concentrated on the guards who were now running for their lives and fired the main cannon at the blast doors leading to the hanger. They crumpled and the Longsword was right there, ready to fly, the engines generating a bit of heat as they slowly came to full power, while the access ramp slowly lowered to the ground. Vermont climbed out of the Scorpion, and together with Tex and Colorado, they walked out to the ship.

The three Freelancers climbed into the ship with Vermont slipping into the pilot seat while Colorado and Tex took the passenger seats and strapped in. He plugged a override code into the ship's console and began arming the weapons, namely the AGSM missiles. He then saw the SAM missiles command vehicles, targeted them and fired. The tracked vehicles exploded, and the SAM missiles powered down, their targeting systems having just been destroyed.

Vermont powered up the engines and flew towards Blood Gulch saying" thank you for choosing Vermont airways. Our current destination is Blood Gulch followed by…" he glanced at Colorado who said" the old training base with the wheel" "a old training ground followed up by a classified location." He switched off the intercom and said "I have no plans on alerting anyone to my location so don't call me after you're dropped off unless it's vital. "

After a few hours, they arrived over Blood Gulch and they dropped off Tex there. She arrived at blue base and from the looks of things; she was going to go stir-crazy from boredom there. During the flight out to the old training ground, he and Colorado discussed their plans. Colorado was going to spread the word around that there was a semi-safe place for Freelancers to hold up. Vermont, however was going to be a freelance assassin and already even had an old base of operations lined up; a military base that had been abandoned. He had heard about it when he was in Command's files and had even secretly made a trip or two out to it to stash supplies and the like. It was isolated but easily defensible and could hold off a attacking force for a long time. The base was codenamed High Ground.

He dropped Colorado off and landed at his new base. The base was built with its front facing a beach and was well designed: there was an old bunker near the wall that he sealed up as it was too vulnerable to defend. Next he repaired a portion of the wall that was blown apart and finally he fixed the gates so he could easily open and close them. He had secretly carved out underneath the base an underground hanger with a room built into the side that served as an air raid shelter. Vermont landed in the hanger and while he was on approach, he turned on a beacon identifying him as a friendly and the hidden SAM batteries and AAA guns disarmed themselves. He landed and climbed out of the aircraft. Along the way, he reached behind his back, grasped a seemingly random piece of his suit, ripped it off and crushed it between his hands. Now that the hidden tracking system was destroyed, he strolled into the elevator, which led to the upper level of the base. He pushed the up button, and the elevator rose up into the ceiling. It jolted to a stop, and the doors slid open.

The elevator had dropped him off in his bedroom, where he climbed out of his armor, placing off to the side, and climbing into the bed. He dropped off to sleep, grateful that he was at last free from Command, free to do whatever he wanted to do.

A/N:

(1) Rampant – AI "develops delusions of godlike power", as well as utter contempt for its mentally inferior human makers, usually resulting in a massive death toll.