"Fall in!" The voice bellowed and the Freelancers who had gathered in the training room, the huge warehouse, merged into lines, standing straight and still as London and Nottingham stood before them.

"Agent Wight, where is your helmet?" London asked the young, red headed Freelancer who bit his lip nervously.

"I... I don't know, sir."

London sighed.

"Agents Herefordshire and Hertfordshire, step forward."

Two similarly dressed Freelancers stepped forward. Known as Ford One and Ford Two, they both had white and varying shades of green armour. When they removed their helmets, their pale blonde hair and blue eyes made it very clear they were twins. They looked so alike, it was rumoured they were a biological experiment of the same person but split into two bodies. They certainly acted like it.

"Hand it over." London held out a hand and the two men glanced to each other, before retrieving the white and grey helmet from behind their backs.

"It was only a bit of fun, sir." They said in one voice.

"Hm." He grunted, handing the helmet back to the poor boy.

"Thank you, sir."

"Next time, don't let them take it from you. You should be able to protect yourself, Wight."

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."

London moved on and stood before Berks.

"Welcome to the team, Agent Berkshire, good to have you here."

"Thank you, sir, good to be here." She nodded.

"For the first week or so, to get fully inducted, you will be shadowing Agent Buckinghamshire."

"Yes, sir." Berks said, trying to hide her discontent.

"Sir, I really don't think that-" Buck began but was cut off as London waved a hand, dismissing him.

"I've made up my mind. Stop being a child."

"Yes, sir."

London waved for them all to leave and Buck stormed away. Without an order to do otherwise, Berks followed.

"Hey, wait up!" She called jogging down the corridor, struggling to keep up with his long strides.

He said nothing as he slammed his shoulder into the locker room and barged in.

"Buck." She tried again as he opened his locker and pulled off his helmet, throwing it in with a hollow bang. He yanked off his gauntlets, boots and all until he stood in a t-shirt and shorts, a dog tag hanging from around his neck. As Berks took off her own helmet, she noticed the ring on his dog tag chain, a rather odd place for a piece of jewellery. In suspicion, she glanced at his left hand, gripping his locker door. Her suspicious were confirmed, on his finger was a gold band just like that around his neck.

"I know you don't want me around, but London-"

"I don't give a shit what London said!" Buck snarled, pointing a finger at her. "I don't want you around, just leave me alone."

Berks said nothing and just stood silently as Buck turned on his heel and marched towards the showers. Then, the deafening silence returned.


Berks trained alone, exercising, fighting, all were solitary activities. That ring kept crossing her mind. It must have been a wedding ring, or something of an equal value. In that case, it would have been a wife or a girlfriend, or someone very dear to him that he had lost. Had she left him? Had she died?

"Hey, Berks!" Chester called and she turned to see him jog towards her.

The holographic opponent that she was training with responded to voice command, so as her attention was diverted, she commanded the system to pause and it did so.

"I haven't done your laundry yet I'm afraid, please don't get me with those rods again!" He mockingly begged.

"Don't worry about it, you don't have to do anything." She shrugged.

"You alright?" He tilted his head.

"Yeah, fine."

"Oh, c'mon, what's Buck said now." He folded his arms like an over protective older brother.

"How do you know it's Buck?"

"Because you always look like that when it's Buck."

"I've been here three days, I can't have developed 'a look' already."

Chester seemed to falter before he responded.

"It's always Buck, no one is a bastard like him. C'mon, Berks, what did he say?"

Berks sighed and swung her arms, turning away from the holographic opponent she had been focused on. The pause symbol in its chest signified its frozen state.

"He told me he didn't want me around, no matter what London said."

"Ah, he's just being bitter, he'll get over it." He waved a hand.

"He had a ring, a wedding ring. Did he lose someone?" She asked. It was a private question but if he didn't want to tell her, he wouldn't.

"Yeah, he was married a while ago, lovely girl. She was involved in this project where she got a bit crazy. Actually, a lot crazy. She went over on the other side, where she was fighting the Freelancers. She managed to kill Durham, Kent and Bristol before Buck found her."

"And he killed her?"

"Well, we're not sure, no one's stupid enough to ask. She was killed though, by either London or him, in order to defend everyone else."

"So he's been a bit of a dick ever since."

"Yep, but don't let that get you down."

"But it's like it's just me."

"Berks, I have one word for you." Chester shook his head and stepped back.

"Oh?"

"Play."

"Play? Wha-"

The holographic training opponent switched back on at Chester's command and its fist flew out, hitting Berks across the jaw and sending her flying to the floor.

"Stop! Reset! Bastard!" She yelled as she twisted her helmet back on straight from being sprawled on the floor.

Chester burst out laughing. "Just let it go, Berks. Don't take it personally." He said between breaths.

"I'll keep that in mind." She said, getting back on her feet.

Then, a small device, like those archaic pagers, began flashing and beeping on Chester's belt. He tapped it, sending the information to his visor.

"I've gotta go, business calls." He said, after reading and waved, jogging away.

He barely heard the whistle of the helmet flying across the air until it smacked into his head.

"The hell?" He spun, picking up the white and red helmet.

Chester looked up to see Berks give a slight wave.

"I want that scrubbed and all the dents out by tomorrow! Maybe with a new paint job!" She yelled across the hall. "Expect the rest of my armour then!"

He saluted, tucked the helmet under his arm and left her to it.

'Yeah, she was feeling better,' he thought with a smile.