A Time To fight

by themarkedfreelancer

When the reds and blues find a mysterious freelancer agent Arkansas and her very childish and destabilizing AI Kappa they are once again launched into another adventure. but what they don't realize is they are being watched by someone who would spill all there blood to get something that Arkansas has. Oh what have they gotten themselves into this time.

4. The Ball That Dropped

The Ball That Dropped

Authors Note

Oh my god! If you hate me I don't blame you! It's been forever and a half since I updated! This chapter is long and I plan on updating very soon…. Like within the next few days. Sorry for the long time since I've updated. Oh and by the way the Italicized words are what that person is thinking (who ever the point of view is) the bold italicized words are the AI's talking in the persons head.

sinisterly

~The marked freelancer

"So you have an undying army of super soldiers?" asked the orange soldier.

"No I just have the key to make one." I said rather matter of factly.

"Ok so why don't you get rid of the information somehow.' A maroon soldier said.

"Because I'm the key. The chairmen doesn't realize it yet but that doesn't change the fact that I'm the key to it." I didn't want to tell then. This is my biggest secret and I don't really want to share it. But I guess I have to.

"Ok when you decide to make sense let me know." Said the orange soldier. I picked up my knife again and take off the glove on my right hand I than drew the knife across my hand. I put the knife back in to its compartment.

"What the hell are you doing" yelled a cobalt soldier who sounded a lot like the alpha. The pain from the slice on my hand faded after a full minute. It was fully healed. Sore but healed.

"How did you do that? How does it feel? What are you?" said the cobalt soldier.

"The director experimented on me. Made me this. It's a little sore but that's just my skin trying to adjust to the quick healing it will fade in a few hours. And as for what I am. I'm human and I can die it's just a little harder to kill me and my powers or ability is fading I'll be completely human soon well if the recoil doesn't kill me." I said remembering that was another thing that could kill me.

"The recoil? What is that?" Said the cobalt one

"Okay hold on one second. First who are you? Because you're sounding a lot like the alpha which is kinda freaking me out." I said waving my hands around to exaggerate how freaked I was when in reality I wasn't really that freaked about it. "Two. Why should I tell you what the recoil is?"

"I'm Leonard l. church. You can call me church. And what makes you think that you have the right to ask my name when you haven't told us your name?" church asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"I already told you my name is Arkansas. I would prefer that you call me fox you can call me ark if you want but I prefer not." I replied

"Your real name and I'll tell you all our names." Church offered. Hmmm end this now or string it along. End it now I think.

"Alright deal. My name is Crystal Melinda Marks, I have one sister alexia and one brother john. Both younger. You could have asked nicely and I would have told you." I smiled as church cursed under his breath at his lost chance to have something more than just my name for theirs. "Also I already know your names. The royal blue one is caboose, the aqua one is tucker, apparently Wash and of course you. And that's the blue team. The orange one is grif, the red guy is Sarge, maroon is Simmons and Donut has pink armor. That's red team."

"How the hell do you know our names!?" grif asked

"My AI pulled all of your files. Although it was rather hard to find blue teams back up file since someone erased the primary file in freelancer command." Simmons looked away. "Well that will satisfy my AI's curiosity. She really wanted to know what happened to the files. It was pretty funny to watch though."

"Why did you want to know about us?" Simmons asked.

"I was looking for you. All of you."

"Why were you looking for them?" there was a hint of ice and concern in wash's voice. I started laughing.

"Do you really think that I'm the only one that the director experimented on!?" I stopped laughing and looked around. They don't know. But then how did they….. Unless it's the medic….. Or wash. "Okay I guess I'll explain back in freelancer I would hack into their computers because I found out that they were experimenting on us. We wanted to know who else was being experimented on by the director. But while I was hacking into the medical computers two people came in injured. That was Wash and someone in purple armor who I assume to be your medic, Doc. I was hiding up in the vents trying to get out when I heard the Director come in he was saying something about injecting the soldiers in blood gulch with something." I sighed and ran my hand through my hair it had been a long two months. I looked around to find everyone very tense.

"So what's going to happen to us I mean what did they inject into us? And what is it going to do?" Simmons asked there was fear in his voice, so much it almost broke my heart.

"I can't honestly say that I know. But it is something you don't have to worry about because you have to be activated in order for anything to happen and I know none of you have activated." Almost all of them gave a sigh of relief.

"Cry are you alright?" Wash's voice was uncertain and almost…. Fearful? What on earth is going on now?

"Don't. Call. Me. Cry. Washout." I said he knew I hated that nickname just as much as he did me calling him Washout. "Besides I'm fine."

"Really? You just saved a medic and you were laughing about your AI obsessing over something which you never ever would do unless something was wrong with you." Wash shot back crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'll explain later all you need to know is that I'm fine and sane for the time being although if keep pressing the subject then not only will I be insane, you will not be fine. What we all need to do is get you guys to safety. The chairmen will not be merciful if we get caught here."

"Go where?" Grif asked. I sighed.

"I know where a sim base is that has an escape route that leads to a full functioning freelancer facility. Should be safe for now at least."

"What makes you think that we are just going to follow you to this place?" I frowned.

"I would like to think that you don't want to die so you would follow me to safety."

"Prove that were in danger first." I could almost hear Grif smiling.

"Fine I'm sure it won't be long before some assholes start coming for you. Hell they will probably be here with in the next three weeks or so. Because that's not a complete waste of valuable time." I sighed. "Fine I'll prove you guys are in danger but you better be ready to get out of here as soon as they attack. Got it?" they replied by nodding their heads.

"Hang on Cry if you heal Doc than I'll make sure blue team goes with you to this simulation base. Okay?" I sighed.

"I will if you make sure Doc goes also." I said. I really needed to know who was the one that I needed and I had an itching feeling that it was Doc.

"Deal. Do it." I walked towards the breakfast bar where the medic rested as his body slowly tried to heal its shelf. I leaned down right in his face I needed to do this perfectly so not to kill either myself or him. I put one hand on his wound and one hand on the breakfast bar to make sure I didn't fall on my ass. My head still hovered inches from his face as I heard one of the sim soldiers my guess church ask what I was doing followed shortly by Wash shushing him. I leaned in kissed the man on the lips. There were several beats where all I could hear was my own heartbeat. But then every sound, motion and feeling came rushing to me as Doc's eyes opened and I pulled away as he shot up freaking out his wound only appeared as a bad scar now healed. I leaned on the breakfast bar heavily as the pain shot throughout my abdomen it felt as though I had been shot. The pain settled in one spot and became worst and worst. All I could hear was ringing and the almost distant sounds of questions from the very close sim soldiers. By sheer force of will I pulled my shelf up, stood straight and focused on the sounds around me bringing my shelf back to earth and back on my toes. The sim soldiers upon realizing that I was not almost doubled over in pain stopped surrounding Wash and started surrounding me clamoring for answers to their questions. My head felt like it was going to explode and for a minute I actually thought it would. The sim trooper's voices echoed in my head and made my head feel like someone had lit my brain on fire. It was too much and if they kept at it I might pass out.

"SHUT UP!" I covered my ears and hoped they would be silent at least until my head stopped pounding and the feeling like I was going to vomit passed. After several minutes passed filled with utter blissful silence I felt like I could listen to the reds and blues questions and my head not explode. "Okay what do you guys want to know?" they all started asking questions at the same time which hurt my head not as bad as before but to wear I couldn't just shrug it off either. "One at a time guys!" they all stopped and looked at each other than began yelling their questions at the same time again. I sighed and looked at the sky with a "why me" expression. I take a deep breath and spoke again. "You all are idiots!" I yelled the idiots part. "Now Doc has the most reason to be asking question so Doc ask away."

"Um okay who are you?" Doc asked he seemed confused. I couldn't blame him.

"My name is Arkansas though I prefer Fox or just Crystal." My tone was even he is not use to the advanced healing and I could already tell it was taking its toll on him he should rest and let his new tissue adjust. Which is most of the reason why I chose him to go first when he was done he could get a shirt on and go to bed.

"Okay Crystal why were you kissing me?" I smiled at him.

"Because you're cute." He blushed and I laughed. I looked him over quickly since I didn't have the chance before. He had blonde hair that was just long enough to hang in his eyes, he had lovely dark green eyes that were obscured by kind of geeky glasses and now that I was paying attention he was actually pretty muscular. Not to mention handsome. "I'm kidding you were injured and I have advanced healing ability that I can temporarily displace and give to someone else. But as my ability is very temperamental it can only be in someone else for a few minutes. So I figured out the perfect way to heal someone else but I need a complete circuit which pretty much means I place my hand on the wound to point the healing in a certain place and I usually just hold the other person's hand or something of the sorts but as I am not on the top of my game for many reasons so it needs a little more physical connection so I kissed you although I was not expecting you to wake up that fast. Although no one has healed that quickly before either."

"Okay why do I feel like I was shot right where there is now a scar?"

"Because you were shot. It will hurt for about one or two weeks but with each day it should feel better. And to be quite honest you should be resting. Now can I ask you a question?"

"Umm sure I guess."

"How bad are you feeling right now?" I smiled as I said this.

"Well every part of me hurts my abdomen the worst, I'm confused, I feel like I'm going to pass out, I feel weak and to be honest I feel like I just had a great power in me that has left me and left me drained of energy."

"You should go rest then. Your body is still adjusting to the healing and if you push your shelf to much then you'll rip your wound open again."

"Fine I'll go to bed." He said reluctantly and then disappeared down a hallway I assume towards where his room was. I looked towards the rest of the sim soldiers.

"Who's next?" no one answered. "No one really?"

"I don't want these no good rotten scumbags knowing what I have to say! I will ask my questions at breakfast along with my fellow reds! See you then." Sarge said then promptly ran down a hallway. I feel like I just fell down the rabbit hole and there just went the mad hatter.

"Oh I got a question. Why did you save me?" Wash asked.

"Stupid question." I shot back not wanting to talk about it.

"Okay why were you going into the freelancer files when you knew that the director was watching? I mean did you even think about the people around you!?" Wash asked clearly mad. But this just made me madder.

"Did I even think about the people around me!? Why do you think that I was digging through freelancer files!? Why do you think that I betrayed the only family that I had left? Why must you always-"I stopped mid-sentence trying to control my anger. "Fuck you Wash!" It didn't work. I turned around and walked out the entrance to the base I got into my warthog and drove around the to the other side of the base I could clearly see the entrance to the base but I was also pretty far away so not to be disturbed by any noise that would come from the base. I got out and walked to the back of my warthog and jumped up onto where there should have been a machine gun but instead there was nothing but a nice large flat bed for cargo although the bottom could lift up and it was jammed pack with guns and mounted on the sides were swords and tomahawks maybe a few knifes thrown in here and there. I don't remember all the weapons that were in there seeing how it had been a long time since I loaded it. I sat down and propped myself against one of the small ledges that are on the side of the warthog. I gazed up at the sky as I put my arms behind my head to prop it up. The sun was lower in the sky than usual as it was almost that time of winter that the sun would go down and stay down for three weeks by this time tomorrow this base would be plunged into darkness. I couldn't help the shudder that hit me there would be no way of seeing for the entire time we would be spending here at least we are going to go where there was a moon. But for some reason the moon and sun will be on the other side of the planet creating a solar eclipse for the three weeks instead of the moon and sun switching for the three weeks. I always found it strange that the moon never moved from that side of the planet. I pulled out my data pad and tried to figure out how to stop my AI from destabilizing as I slowly fell asleep.

POV SWITCH

WASH

I sighed as I flopped down onto the reds couch. Tucker and Wash were the only people left in the room

"Dude what was all that about?" Tucker asked

"I had a few questions I guess."

"What the hell was that though?" I sighed again.

"During freelancer me and crystal were together but when she found out what was going on in freelancer she didn't want to tell anybody because she didn't want the word to spread to the director. She didn't even tell me! So when the director found out what she was doing he take it out on me. She was the reason epsilon was given to me so that I would go insane and kill her when I found out. But it didn't work because the director thought that crystal had told me about her super healing and would there for make sure that she was dead. But she didn't tell me. When she healed she didn't remember anything about what had led her to looking into freelancer. All she remembered was me attacking her and the missions she had gone on. God what have I done now?"

"You still love her don't you?"

"Don't tell anyone Tucker not even Crystal." I threatened.

"What!? Why not?"

"Because I've put her through enough pain." I couldn't help the sorrow that slipped into my voice.

POV SWITCH

FOX

I woke up in the back of my warthog data pad lying face down on my chest I couldn't see anything around me I guess the sun went down while I was asleep then. I picked up my data pad and read what I had figured out with Kappa before I made her power down. It basically said that I could fix her by hacking into her data core and replacing the corrupted data. I pulled up the data of my AI then I got an idea. I sat up flicked through all the data and found the corrupted data I copied a piece of uncorrupted data and tried replacing the corrupted data with the uncorrupted data I was met with a password lock I didn't pull some fancy hacking trick or anything. I simply typed a lesson that both me and Kappa had found out a long time ago. I only wish we hadn't found out the hard way. There was a few moments and then the transfer was complete and successful. I felt that strange buzzing at the back of my mind that told me my AI was healthy and alive. The gold light lit up the area around me and made me feel safe that I had at least one person that would watch my back no matter what.

"It feels good to be back in action!" Kappa said hitting at the air like a crazy person. I laughed she could always make me laugh even if she wasn't trying.

"It's good to have you back Kappa." She stopped hitting at the air and turned towards me smiling.

"It better damn well be." I laughed again. "I see you found Wash." The smile she had earlier had disappeared now a look of pure hate engulfed her face as she grew to be as tall as me and then sat in front of me both of us just barely fit even with our legs crossed. Kappa held a lot of hate towards Wash because he had betrayed us and there for committed a sin that could never be forgiven in her eyes. She was trust after all. And if you betray me or Kappa you betray us both.

"Yeah. I see you've been looking through my memories again." I was trying to pull away from the topic of Wash. Kappa knew of course but she would understand. She smiled again.

"Nice job taking out Utah I can only imagine what his face looked like when he saw you but I'm sure it was hilarious!" I smiled again and noticed a light from one of the rooms in red base turn on. Then one by one the rest turned on.

"Time to go meet red team!" I beamed at the AI.

"Yay!" And with that my AI disappeared.

I put my data pad away and walked towards red base. I entered to find everyone gathered around a table. I looked around since I didn't have the chance yesterday. When you walk in if you look to your left there is a big flat screen TV sitting on a black stand that I assumed had movies in it their DVD player was in plain view on top of the stand next to the TV. There was a long mahogany and glass coffee table in front of three couches all of which were on a blood red rug looking to my right and down a little bit was the kitchen a mahogany and black granite top breakfast bar stood a good three feet from the matching counters. The fridge, dish washer, coffee maker and microwave were all black the handles and accents on the drawers, cabinets and counters along with the sink were black. Back on the left and behind the couches there was a large round table that Doc, Sarge, Simmons and Grif sat at the table was mahogany and so were the chairs. The entire base smelled of bacon which reminded my stomach that I hadn't eaten in the past two days as I was running from the Chairmen and his goons the entire time, no time to eat when your life is in danger. I gazed down the hallway that turned before I could see what all was down there then walked towards the kitchen that held Donut slaving away over a hot stove he was wearing a pink tank top that held the red army flag, pink sweat pants and a frilly pink apron. I smiled at the pink apron and walked towards the breakfast bar I stood on the opposite side and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Want any help?" I asked nicely. Donut turned around which was the first time I ever saw his face he had green eyes that were nothing like Doc's dark green. Instead Donut had light green eyes that went with his young and may I say girly features and blonde hair the covered his forehead but didn't go to his eyes yet, he pretty young maybe early twenties. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Please." I walked around the breakfast bar to see what we were going to be making. Bacon, pancakes and eggs. Sounds yummy! My AI chimed in. I smiled.

"You get the bacon and eggs and I'll get the pancakes and coffee. Sound fair?"

"Sure!" I started on the batter for the pancakes. I went to the coffee maker and quickly started the coffee my own little blend. I finished the batter and grabbed a skillet. I walked back over to the stove and saw that the bacon was done and so was the eggs. I put the skillet on the stove and turned on the burner. I poured some batter in and noticed that Donut was standing next to the stove just shifting from foot to foot.

"Something on your mind Donut?" I asked

"Yeah. There is. Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Nope. Ask away."

"Did you really betray your family?"

"I might as well have. The director raised me since I was twelve and when my friends started acting weird I suspected that the director did something to them. So I ignored my sister and brother saying that there was no way that the director did something bad and investigated which turned into me trying to kill the director because if I didn't then he would keep doing what he was doing. Still haven't killed him but at least I sacred him away for now. But I'm not sure if my brother and sister will forgive me for betraying family." I sighed and moved the now done pancakes onto a plate and poured in more batter.

"I'm sure they will forgive you."

"You know it sounds better coming from you than my AI since she always makes a crude joke after saying that." I laughed.

"Well I hope that I get to meet this AI of yours someday she sounds like fun."

"Oh trust me if she has anything to say about getting to meet you all you will be meeting her soon. I guess it's a good thing she's repaired now though." I moved the now done pancakes with the other done pancakes and poured the last of the batter.

"Really? Wash made it sound that it was this big deal and really hard to fix."

"Well it's hard because AI's or at least mine protect their inner workings with something they live by like a lesson that they learn. Kappa my AI was easy to guess because she is trust so she lives by a saying of trust and lesson we both learned the hard way."

"What's the saying?"

"Trust a little never with your life. Simple enough don't trust someone with your life but still trust people."

"Why would your AI live by that?"

"Simple we both trusted Wash with our lives and that almost cost me my life and in turn almost got Kappa put into storage."

"That explains why you blew up at Wash."

"Yeah sorry about that. I can usually control my anger by stopping in the middle of my rant take a few deep breaths and be able to walk away. I don't usually end my rant by cursing either."

"Oh it's fine you kind of remind me of that Church guy or Grif. But nicer" I laughed at that.

"I'll take that as a complement." I put all the pancakes onto the same plate and moved the plate to the table. I went back grabbed the coffee and cups and put them on the table. It take me a minute to find the plates but I eventually found them and put them in front of everyone. I grabbed the coffee and poured everyone a cup I sat at a seat and got a good look at the people around me. Sarge looked to be in his sixties his buzz cut hair was grey with tips of white his grey eyes fixed in a beam of glee he was wearing a red t-shirt and red sweatpants. Simmons had fluffy light brown hair and hazel eyes he was wearing maroon t-shirt and maroon sweatpants. Grif had black hair brown eyes and really tan skin much unlike everyone else at the table who had pale skin. I guess wearing full body armor almost all the time had its toll. Grif was wearing orange t-shirt and orange sweatpants. Doc's hair was a little more frazzled then the last time I saw him and he looked half asleep still, he was wearing a purple t-shirt and purple sweatpants. How cold did it get in here that everyone was wearing sweatpants?

"So you wanted to ask some questions?" I said pouring some syrup onto my pancakes.

"Yes. So what is the recoil you mentioned?"

"The recoil is pretty much a backlash of my healing ability. You see the director was dosing me with the f-081x a concoction that some freelancer medics made. When the concoction is injected into someone it takes form and modifies some natural thing in there body for. For me it was healing as you witnessed yesterday. But there is always a downside like for me when I was first injected I felt really weak every time I would eat something I would throw it up I couldn't do anything without excessive pain. This caught my AI's attention and risked getting them exposed since they didn't have my permission to do anything to me. So they injected me once every week eventually the side effects went away."

"But wouldn't that make you reliant on this concoction. I mean when you run out you could die!" Simmons stated

"Maybe but first I'll go through the recoil reliving every single wound that I've ever healed from if I live through that I assume that my healing ability will either be self-sustaining with no side effects or I will have no healing ability what so ever. Oh and to be quite honest Simmons I don't care if I die or not as long as it's for the right reason."

"Man that is fucked up."

"I'm a soldier what are you going to do?"

"I'm a soldier and I care if I die." Grif said

"Let me rephrase I'm a good soldier."

"Amen to that." Sarge chimed in. Yep its official I fell down a rabbit hole and now everyone has gone batshit.

"Fuck you old man." Grif said to Sarge.

"What was that Grif?"

"Fuck you old man sir!"I leaned towards my left where Doc sat.

"Are they always like this?" I whispered so that the two bickering like an old married couple wouldn't hear us.

"Yeah pretty much." Doc said causally eating the last of his bacon.

"And I thought freelancers were batshit." He laughed and held out his hand.

"Welcome to red team." I grabbed his hand and shook.

"How do I always get into strange situations and meet strange people." The light in the room turned gold as Kappa appeared standing behind my chair hands over her ears.

"Wouldyou two shut up already for god's sake you bicker like an old married couple!"

"Well hello to you to Kappa. How are you today?"

"Shut up fox!"

"No." I looked around to see everyone very confused. "So. This is my AI Kappa."

"Yo. What's up?" She said. Doc waved at the AI. But everyone else looked rather shell shocked except Donut who jumped up looked at the AI held his hand out and said.

"Hi my names Donut" Kappa looked at Donut's hand then back at his face.

"Um hi I can't shake your hand because I'm an AI." She said while trying to grab his hand several times. But to no avail. I stood and crossed my arms knowing that they may not like my AI. "The only one I can touch is the person that I'm implanted in." Kappa said placing her arm on my shoulder and leaning. I winced as she leaned on my right arm which had been stabbed two days ago by an iridium knife, the only thing that I can't heal from. Fuck iridium. Stupid piece of metal. I mean come on who thinks that they need a iridium knife! Probably would have been cheaper to drop a castle on me, might have hurt less too. Kappa pulled away and turned to me. "Sorry!"

It's fine. I thought giving her a smile trying to mask the massive pain that I felt from her sensors.

"No you're not and stop trying to hide things from me!" she said in that annoying high pitched squeak her voice got into when she was worried. "Okay. Okay I get it. I'll stop." She said looking towards the confused reds.

"Kappa is implanted in my head so she can hear my thoughts what seems like a one sided conversation can actually be two sided but with one side answering with their thoughts. This is also how AIs and their hosts talk if the AI is not projecting themselves to where the human eye can see them which is all very confusing and I don't understand it so Kappa can explain it if you want her to."

"You have an AI?" There was anger and horror behind Sarge's words.

"Yes. And I know you guys have had bad experiences with AIs but Kappa is different than Omega or Gary because Omega is rage and Gary is deceit but Kappa is trust." I stood in front of my AI as a way of protecting her against the reds unknowing of what they would do as Kappa shrunk down to only two inches tall and hid behind my shoulder. Because it was easier to just slip into my mind and go into full battle mode if we had to.

"Why do you have an AI?"

"Because I have an enhancement." I said not backing down. No one will hurt my AI. "It creates a force field that absorbs the blast and allows me to explode my enemies by either them hitting me or me hitting them."

"Would you describe yourself as powerful?" Sarge's voice was grave.

"Um I guess so?" I said completely confused.

"Good enough for me!" Sarge said more than happy with my answer. "Welcome to red team!"

"Ok sorry. You see I'm half a block behind you and not sure where you went so if you could back up and explain how you went from homicidal over my AI to welcome to red team in exactly three seconds!" I waited while Sarge gave me the run down on what happened with Wash including him saying that I was going to join red team if they helped save me. I stood there for a moment trying to understand how Wash had gotten even more stupid over the time that I hadn't seen him. Which was perfect timing for Wash to walk in. Kappa appeared next me and grabbed my shoulders and yelled.

"CAN WE KILL HIM NOW!?"

"NO!" Caboose yelled from behind Wash. "I don't want to die!"

"Not you dipshit she wants to kill Wash!" Tucker yelled from beside Caboose just as Church appeared from around the corner.

"Oh that's fine if she kills Wash." Caboose said completely ignoring that little fact in favor for a butterfly out in the grass which he ran towards immediately upon seeing.

"Fox is going to kill Wash?" there was a slight pause before Church said anything else. "That's awesome! Can I watch?" I stalked towards Wash completely intent on killing him until someone came up behind me and grabbed my forearm I turned to look and saw Doc. That's when it hit me there was no longer that comforting buzzing in the back of my head. Instead there was the deep growl of something else. Or should I say another AI. Oh that was close wasn't it dear little Arkansas. Shit Omega! Yes it's me and we have found you!

"Everyone pack up! They've found us!"

"Who?" Doc asked.

"The freelancers." I said. "There's no time to explain! Go pack up we need to get out of here I'll cover you!" all the sim troopers ran off to go pack up. You know it is really funny to see you all running around in a panic. I growled both internally and externally. I felt the obnoxious AI digging through my mind trying to find some information probably to torture me with. I growled internally again and then shoved him away from my memories and put up a door with chains and padlock between the pesky AI and my precious and rather fragile memories. I turned and scanned the black abyss for any kind of movement. Nothing. Damnit! Something wrong Foxy? Fuck off! Now where would be the fun in that? I flexed my jaw in frustration. I walked back into the base and looked at the weapons I had energy sword and a pistol. Yeah I'm going to need more than this. I walked outside went around the corner and let my eyes adjust to the darkness when they did I made sure that my armor lights were off. I dashed towards my warthog and opened the flat bed and pulled out an assault rifle, a shotgun, a second pistol and what looked like a small black metallic stick only about two inches long. I locked my assault rifle and shotgun on my back. The magnetic lock making a strange noise as the weapons snapped into place. I strapped my pistol on the outside of my left leg since my other pistol was already strapped to my right leg I stuffed the metal stick into a compartment and closed the flatbed part of my warthog and then dashed into red base I got there just as blue team pulled up in front of red base. There were several bags hanging from the two mongooses that they had and a several bags thrown into the back of a warthog we all ran inside red base for protection from any snipers that could be lurking around.

"You guys ready?" I asked. You can try to hide but we will always be able to find you agent Arkansas. Fuck off Omega. Stupid asshole. Now that's a little mean don't you think? You know what? As soon as were out of here you getting out of my head. Oh and how are you going to make that happen? Me and kappa have been hard at work I assure you… then again you will be finding out soon won't you? What are you planning! I shoved the AI away from my thoughts and put up another door. The AI fumed but I ignored him in favor for the blues.

"Yeah we're ready. But how do you know that freelancers are coming?" Wash asked although he seemed on edge. Did something happen while they were at blue base? Omega clawed at the door between him and my thoughts. I shook my head trying to relive some of the pain that came with having Omega in my head.

"The director put Omega in my head awhile back the first thing Omega did was learn enough about my head to be able to shift into my head even if I don't have my radio on. But I learned a bit from Kappa like how to keep him from taking over my body which only works for a sort time…." I trailed off to let that sink in. "But it works. Oh and by the way it seems he put Kappa offline for the duration of his visit….. The bastard." Wash twitched and I backed up because I knew just how much he hated AI's…. And I knew that he would take my weapons if I let him….. I also knew that there were some bad freelancers coming and dare I say that they just might be better than Wash?

"Weapons." He wasn't asking he was demanding.

"No." I wasn't bargaining and I can be just as stubborn as him damnit! He stepped forward as he said.

"Look Fox this isn't you speaking its Omega." I double checked and yep Omega was still locked behind the Doors that I had set up screaming his head off and saying some not very nice things. Wash lunged forward trying to pin me down I side stepped and grabbed his hand he tried coming back around to get me but I whipped him around so he faced blue team. I kicked his feet out from underneath him and grabbed his other hand he struggled in my grip but I pushed him forward he face planted on the hard floor. Good thing he was wearing a helmet! Although I've done that to him plenty of times in training without any armor so it's not like he wouldn't be fine. Wash got back up and came at me again he went low trying to grab around my stomach. I side stepped again but this time he must have seen it coming because he kicked my legs out from under me I started to fall backwards but I saved it by flipping instead. I landed on my feet but stumbled and fell onto my right knee. I looked up just in time to see Wash coming at me again I flipped again this time kicking him in the chin this sent him stumbling back a few steps. Which was all the opening I needed I dashed forward and lashed out with a flurry of punches to his chest and kicks to his abdomen I made sure to hold back so that I didn't hurt him but just knocked the air out of him. We were moving back the whole time when he was a good two feet away from the wall I kicked him in the chest knocking him against the wall he pounced off the wall and started to fell forward but he caught himself with his left hand keeping him from face planting. I heard him coughing as his right arm stretched around his chest piece he was probably trying to stop the pain shooting through his ribs. I breathed a little heavy from the fight I slowed my breathing down to normal and then walked towards Wash who was still on the ground probably catching his breath. I kneeled down so my face was close to his.

"There are freelancers coming and they had Omega that means that the Chairmen thought that these freelancer could control Omega. That could mean Texas or the Meta or Carolina! Let's face it you were good but I was, am and unless something major happens I always will be better then you. Now! Are you just going to stay there forever or are you going to get up?"

"You didn't seem better than me when I just had Epsilon implanted in me." I glared at the freelancer I might have been mad before but now I was pissed.

"Ever think that maybe I was actually stupid enough to love you and even more stupid to think that you loved me back so that for whatever that meant you wouldn't try to kill me!"

"Epsilon was controlling me! You can't fight your AI you of all people should know this!"

"I fought mine off! You know when you were having an argument with Epsilon in the hallway we passed by and she toke over and she had the knife inches away from your heart and for some strange reason I saved your ass! But I guess that's just another thing you don't remember." I stood and walked down the hallway that turned before I could see what was down it. I was going to see how the reds were doing. I heard the
sound of boots come from behind me. "What do you want Wash!?" I said angrily stopping and turning on my heel to face the man. Wash was about to say something but was cut off by the sound of a sniper shot sounding across the hall. "Whose there?" I yelled pulling out my assault rifle. The people that came around the corner was none other than the Meta and North Dakota.

"North?" Wash asked baffled. The Meta and north pulled their weapons on us.

"Get down." I yelled as north and the Meta started shooting at us. I pulled Wash into a room unaware there were stairs right there going down. We tumbled down the steps knocking the air out of me as I hit. My assault rifle slid across the shiny floor I moved to pick it up when I saw two white armored boots coming down the stairs. I pulled Wash up and grabbed the small metal stick. As it sensed my holding it tensely the stick grew to be almost seven feet long I backed up a bit and prepared for battle. Wash drew a battle rifle and aimed. I glanced around the room we were in, it was your basic storage room but something caught my eye a red grenadier helmet I walked over and grabbed the helmet off the shelf. It looked undamaged and a grenadier helmet was my last helmet I placed the helmet on my head and locked it into place the HUD came to life with a hum. The helmet shimmered as it became black with gold highlights just like the rest of my armor. The Meta and North came running full speed down the stairs and aimed their weapons at me I moved back and to my left making them come closer to me I flicked my radio on. "Wash get the sim soldiers out of here. I've got this." Wash turned to me and nodded his head. I dashed forward as North fired his sniper and the Meta shot his brute shot at me moved just enough to the right to avoid getting shot but I still knew if I didn't have armor my left side would have bad burns from the explosion when I was within range of hitting them I swiped at North sending him into a wall. The Meta tried hitting me with the sharp edge of his brute shot I crouched and swept his feet out from under him he went down with a loud thud. North came from behind and grabbed me pinning my arms. I backed up into a nearby wall shoving North into it hard he gave a grunt but still held strong. The Meta stood and started running at us with a snarl. I waited and right as the Meta was about to punch me I turned around facing the wall North slammed into me and sent us both to the ground it was my turn to grunt North in full armor wasn't exactly light. I shrugged North off of me and began to stand but the Meta picked me up around the throat and held me a foot above the ground black dots danced in my vision I kicked the Meta in the chin as hard as I could he stammered back a few steps much like Wash did earlier. North stated to get up behind me so before either could recover I picked up my assault rifle and ran up the stairs. All the doors that lined the hallway were now wide open. I guess the reds are out of the base. I dashed down the hall through the living room and out into the dark abyss that was outside. It had started raining while I was inside. Which I realized as I ran outside and lighting struck nearby blinding me and stopping me dead in my tracks. I looked around to see all the vehicles still in front of the base and several lights lighting up full armored soldier. I made a list in my mind of who all was there as I turned my own lights on. Grif, Simmons, Sarge, Donut, Doc, Church, Tucker, Caboose and just as I scanned over Wash two more figures appeared behind him. "Wash behind you!" I yelled dashing towards the figures. More lighting struck nearby but far enough so I could still see. The lighting lit up the two figures showing aqua and black armor. "Shit its Tex and Carolina!" I yelled grabbing Wash by the arm and yanking him back some steps. I heard someone coming up behind us looked back to see the Meta and North running at us. I gave Wash the keys to my warthog. "ALL OF YOU GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" everyone but Wash got into a vehicle. I shoved a small chip into Wash's hands. "This will take you to the base I mentioned earlier. NOW GO!" I said shoving him away from me. "I'LL BUY YOU GUYS TIME!" He hesitated….

POV SWITCH

WASH

Why is she giving these to me?

"This will take you to the base I mentioned earlier. NOW GO!" She said shoving away. NO! She can't stay they willKILL HER! "I'LL BUY YOU GUYS TIME!" I hesitated and looked at the sim troopers that were getting frantic. There my friends I have to get them out of here but I can't let her die here. "WASH! Go! Please." Her voice was pleading…. So I turned and got into her warthog and started driving I yelled as I went by.

"I'LL BE BACK! I PROMISE!" She pulled that stick thing of hers out and flicked it to extend it. The last thing I saw in my review mirror was Tex, Carolina, the Meta and North running towards Fox at full speed.

POV SWITCH

FOX

Wash drove away the others following close behind. I had to take a deep breath. I heard the freelancers run towards me. If I live through this it will be miracle. I sighed and deflected Tex trying to punch me by going down on one knee and hitting her in the head Carolina wasn't far behind Tex so I swiped her feet out from underneath her. I stood and turned towards the base to face the Meta and North. The Meta was ahead of North but not by much. I clenched the stick that York had named Alice in both my hands. I held Alice across my chest and pushed my right hand forward catching the Meat in the chest knocking him off balance I moved forward pushing on my right hand making the Meta fall on his back beside me I hopped over his legs throwing North off. I swung out hitting North in his throat he was still running when I hit him so he dropped to his knees coughing. Tex and Carolina were up and attacking me at the same time. Carolina tried punching me in the face I just barely blocked her in time. But Tex kicked my hand and sent Alice flying. The ground beneath me turned to slippery sludge as the rain continued. Tex and Carolina were kicking and punching relentlessly and without stop. I could just barely block each hit in time. Having troubles Arkansas? Oh great the last thing I needed was Omega putting his two cents in. The distraction from Omega made me miss the Meta get up and start coming at me with his brute shot. The sharp side caught the light of lighting I tried to action roll to my right away from the onslaught of freelancers but the sharp side sill cut through my armor still cut deep into the skin beneath. The pain threw my action roll off so I fell onto the wet muddy sludge-like ground. I tried to move back some get any kind of distance from the people who were once my friends but now were just shells of who they use to be. The Meta came forward and sat on my chest. I felt Omega leave my head in favor of Tex, I also felt Kappa return into my head. Suddenly the area around me was lit up by both gold and purple.

"Tell us Arkansas. What is so important about these sim soldiers that you would die for them?" Omega asked. I didn't answer and there was no way I was letting him get his hands on that information any time soon. Well I guess we will just knock you out and take your memories." Omega was just a little too happy about that for my tastes. "Meta if you will do the honors please." I turned towards my AI as pure panic ran through me I did the only thing I could think of.

"KAPPA ERASE MY MEMORIES! OVERIDE TWO-DELTA-FIVE!" kappa nodded and disappeared. I looked up and saw the Meta's fist coming down. Everything went blank.

Authors Note

Shout out to H2ohas and A6MZero for following my story and A6MZero favorited it also! You both are awesome!

sinisterly

~themarkedfreelancer