Chapter Six- Payback Begins…
The entire squad of Freelancers had gotten their equipment fairly easily, and managed to get out without notice thanks to Ash's skill and speed at getting the Pelican (A ship designed for carrying soldiers and vehicles) out of the ship quickly.
Inside, Rae was wearing what was left of her armor- her helmet, right arm, part of her chest, and left leg's armor. The rest was too damaged to use. She fiddled with her prosthetic, and occasionally glanced up. Iowa was pacing up and down the small ship, CO was sleeping, moving slightly every five minutes or so, and Michigan was fiddling with a small piece of technology, with only a screwdriver and a knife. It only took ten minutes of this to make Rae doze off and fall asleep.
She awoke with a start, as the ship landed. Yawning, she stood up and glanced outside. Iowa held a large Gravity hammer, waiting for the door to open, Michigan was standing, but near the exit, where a turret was situated, even though Rae knew he would sooner use the thing than blow himself up (actually, not blow himself up, Rae thought, realizing the bad wording of her own thoughts), and CO held her Grenade Launcher readily with one hand. Rae picked up her rifle in her right hand, and lifted it with some ease- it was made lighter and smaller so one hand could use it without much difficulty. Angel materialized before her.
"Can I ask something?" She looked up at the Freelancer.
"Yeah?" Rae nodded.
"Why are you all named after US states?" Rae actually paused for a second.
"No clue."
"OI!" CO's yell emanated from the outside of the ship. Everybody else had left and were waiting for her. CO had clearly gotten impatient and bored.
Climbing off of the ship, Rae walked over to the rest of the team. Michigan was there to get them into the enemy's communications after taking the base, and all of the others were clearly desperate to fight. Maybe that was why Ash had landed them at a huge base. CO had her Grenade Launcher resting on her shoulder, and it was clearly loaded with something powerful, if the flashing red light on the side of the gun, which was more of a grenade crossbow, was anything to judge by. Iowa leaned against her hammer, which she had stolen from the corpse of a Jiralhanae Chieftain during the great war, when Rae, Iowa, and Oregon, along with another close friend who didn't join the project, Johnathan, were Orbital Shock Drop Troopers (ODSTs) who were shot in from orbit to stop particularly troublesome enemy raids and help in losing battles. Heavily trained suicide soldiers, basically. Rae lifted her rifle into her hands and looked at her two soldiers and grinned.
"Normally, I'd give a complicated battle plan. This time? Just raise all kinds of hell." Rae told them, and Iowa sprouted a maniacal grin.
"Then let's go." Iowa smirked, and, using her hammer, flung herself over the wall of the compound. CO and Rae both simply climbed over to see Iowa beating everything that moves into a fine paste.
"Go!" Iowa waved them on, destroying one soldier's entire head with a single swing of the hammer.
CO nodded to Rae, and ran off to the right, at a fork in the buildings, a small mushroom cloud emanating from the direction she ran telling Rae that she had at least found someone. Smirking, Rae quickly fired three shots, killing the soldiers that were coming out of a nearby building instantly, before kicking a fourth in the crotch, and firing a shot between his eyes. Working her way through the base, Rae froze near the end. A man was standing, leaning against a wall. He wore jet-black armor, and carried a sniper rifle. Oregon's killer.
"You killed my friend." The man shrugged.
"So what if I did?" His voice was heavily distorted by something.
"Why?"
"Was told to by my boss." He shook his head; he clearly didn't like this fact.
"That's all I get? After you killed my fucking friend?!" Rae was less shocked now, more furious. The man nodded. Rae swung the rifle up, and fired. The man dropped to the floor, dead. Pulling his helmet off though, to see Oregon's killer, she released a long stream of swears. It was a robot.