Another chapter fresh out of the frying pan. I don't own RvB, it belongs to Roosterteeth.
So bored.'
'It could be worse,' Lambda reasoned.
'How? I'm standing against a machine gun that I'm not allowed to use with one of the worst drivers ever and the world's deadliest grump.'
'That's not very nice,' she scolded.
'It's still true.'
We'd been following Sota and his little Innie friend for several hours. They were suppose to be leading us to an old Freelancer storage facility so we can stock up on ammo and stuff before we bust out the Counselor. As usual, Carolina threw a major fit over the whole thing, but still came with us anyways.
The Mongoose headed down an old dirt path, the Warthog guided by Wash not too far behind.
They came to a stop and the Insurrectionist woman hurried off the vehicle and went up to a tree. She began speaking to it. As if by magic, the wall behind her lazily opened up. The rest of us caught up but Sota blocked the entrance.
"Ground rules: No complaining, no breaking things, no arguing, and no fighting." The last one was heavily directed towards Carolina.
Sota led us into the warehouse. A handful of Innies milled about, they were probably as bored as I was. Both sides threw cautious glares at one another. Seeing as how I only needed a few spare clips of ammo, I immediately set out looking for the weapons storeroom. How hard could it be? These places were all the same. It shouldn't be that difficult. I entered the first room I found. Nothing but floor to ceiling with standard issue military junk. Battle and Marine Rifles- who even uses those anymore?- Shotguns, pistols, SMGs, nothing good. I rummaged through some of the crates only to find some frag grenades. I put away a few of those for later.
"Need any help?" Wash stood in doorway watching me.
'Tell him to go away.'
"Maine is doing fine Wash. You can leave if you want to," Lambda answered.
I waved him away as I continued digging through more crates. Wash still lingered in the doorway.
"Hey, can I talk to you for a moment?"
I growled in annoyance. 'What does he want?'
Wash entered and began sifting through the ammo as well. It didn't take long for me to get uncomfortable.
'I thought I told you to ask him what he wants.'
"He wants to know what you wanted to talk about," the A.I. translated.
"You do know I can understand you, remember? Oh look!" He pulled out a some sort of grenade launcher from a box. "You want this?"
I went up and grabbed him by the top of his chest plate, and slammed him into a wall. My patience had been pushed enough. I stared him down for a moment before releasing him. It wasn't worth it. I looked over the launcher while Wash got back to his feet. He seemed a bit more nervous, but still refused to leave.
"Hey Maine,"
"What?" I growled, not even looking at him.
"I'm sorry. For everything. I'm glad you're back." He placed a hand on my shoulder.
It took every inch of will power not to flinch. I gave it quick glance before returning back to my weapon. "I never left."
Wash's hand slid off. That seemed to get to him. His body slumped dejectedly. "Yeah, it took too long for me to realize that. I'm sorry."
"Baby." I laughed. "Stop apologizing."
We went back to stocking up on supplies. Wash grabbed a healing unit on the way back to main entrance. Of course, Carolina was already there with a Battle Rifle on her back and two pistols on her hips. It didn't take long before our 'leader' had returned from wherever he had disappeared to. But instead of the woman with him, there was a different Insurrectionist following him.
"This is Adam. He is in charge of this unit. He'll be coming with us on our mission instead of our other friend," Sota announced.
"What difference does it make whether which Insurrectionist comes with us or not? I'm ready to shoot something so let's get out of here before I use you for a warm-up," Carolina complained as she exited.
Wash and I exchanged glances before giving a small nod and following after her. I don't know what Sota has been doing with these Innies, but there had better be a damn good reason he's bring one with us. Four Freelancers should be more than enough to infiltrate a maximum security prison. The three of them geared up at their hog while Sota and Adam were talking next to the Mongoose.
"Why is he bringing scum like this on our mission?" Carolina questioned.
"It is odd. Think something else is going on here? Maybe there's something he knows that we don't," Wash replied.
I simply shrugged. Picking a side in this scuffle between Sota and Carolina would end badly. That last thing I wanted was to be shot by 'accidental' friendly fire. Waiting this out was the best option. Carolina did have a point though. What was so special about this Innie that he got to come? Did Minnesota actually think we needed extra manpower? He trusted me with his A.I. so the least I could do is trust him with whatever he's got planned.
'Do you know what he's up to?'
'No. I haven't met any of these people. He must have run into them after leaving me with you,' Lambda answered.
No help there.
"Hey Maine, send Lambda over here for a minute," Sota said.
'Go.'
Her image appeared in between the two soldiers. I let them be for the moment. I inspected my shotgun again. Nothing was going to ruin this mission. Suddenly, Lambda was hiding next to me again.
'What's wrong?'
"Round two," she pointed to where a very moody Carolina was yelling with Sota.
"Wash." I growled.
He looked up. "Uh-oh, this won't end well."
The usual started. Carolina mouthing off, Minnesota insulting her skills, it started to actually get boring. Then, she did something I didn't see coming, but didn't really surprise me. Carolina punched the Insurrectionist in the face. What did surprise me though was his reaction. He took it and, in a whirl of movement, had some how pinned Carolina to the ground.
"I blinked. Did you see what happened?" Wash asked.
"No," I muttered. "She's gonna be hell to ride with now."
We went to our seats, I went back to my turret while Wash got back behind the wheel, I would complain but it was safer than having Carolina drive at the moment. Sota and Adam made their way over, the female Freelancer dusting herself off.
"Here's the plan. You three hit the main control room. Find out where the Counselor is, then deactivate all security measures and release all the prisoners."
"All of them?" the blue and yellow Freelancer asked.
"It'll be a diversion. Adam and I will destroy the main power generator so they can't their systems back online. After the release, make your way to the Counselor. We'll meet up with you there. Take down anyone that gets in your way." Sota ordered, "Sync."
"Sync," The three of us said. Carolina remained silent.
Sota went up to her. "I know you've been doing this 'lone wolf' thing for a while, but you'll have to work with this team to get what you want. If you let any of my team go down, I'll make sure you join them. Is that understood Agent Carolina?"
If her glare could kill, the whole universe would have been destroyed right then.
"Sync," She came over and hopped into the Warthog.
All of us waited for Sota. He simply got on the back of the Mongoose and it was as if the whole thing had never happened. This was going to be a long ride.
"I've got him in my sights."
"Fire on my mark."
"Ready.
"Mark."
I watched as two soldiers fell over dead. Carolina and Wash were playing sniper. We were hiding on a cliff ledge taking out sentries. I say we but really it was just them. Apparently, I wasn't subtle enough.
"I'm bored," I growled.
Wash fired again. "You'll get some fun in a minute. We're just picking off the stupid ones. You can have the tough guys."
That sounded fair enough. These guys were pretty dumb. They heard gunshots, saw the bodies of their dead friends, died, repeat. Not one alarm had been raised yet.
"How's it coming guys?" Sota called through the radio.
"Maine's bored and the soldiers are stupid. The coast should be pretty clear. How's your end?" Wash replied.
"The maintenance building with the generator is in sight. Be there in a few. Move up and head inside. Find the main control room."
"Moving up now," the female Freelancer said.
We entered the gate control and looked around. I went up to one of the console and started typing in something. Lambda was guiding me through the system of the prison.
"Maine, what are you doing?" Wash said.
"Playing a game. I'm winning." I kept searching.
"Leave those alone. You might set off an alarm."
"Look at my prize." I sent a layout of the prison to each of them.
"What kind of game have you been playing lately?" He nearly face-palmed when he saw Lambda hovering over my shoulder. "I should have guessed. Come on, let's go."
I laughed as we caught up to Carolina. She looked slightly annoyed at us taking our time but it's not like it was new. The three of us cautiously made our way into the actual building itself. Carolina waved me to the front of our group.
"You take point. Break anything that moves that isn't us. Try not to make too much noise."
This made my day. I almost didn't believe it. Carolina was letting me lead. Taking charge, I quietly pushed on towards the target. A few snapped necks later, we'd found the control room. I had Lambda do her magic, and in moments warning sirens started blaring something about emergency evacuation procedures and doors started flying open.
"Here they come," Carolina warned.
Several of the guards rushed in only to be met with our gunfire. I pulled out the launcher and started firing into the doorway. Nothing was allowed in here.
"Sota, we've released the prisoners. You can take out the power now," Wash radioed.
"..." Nothing.
"Sota, do you copy?" he asked.
"Ad... can't..." came his garbled response.
"Minnesota, can you hear me?" Carolina tried.
Several gunshots rang through the connection. Then, static.
"Sota!" Wash yelled. There was no response.
There were more gunshots heard through their radios. The moment was ruined when more guards rushed in. I tore through each one with my shotgun. I had more important things to do with. Lambda's emotions were messing with my head. They mingled with my own and started to break down my wall of seriousness. My mind blurred for a brief moment then I found myself being pulled off a pummeled, very dead guard.
"Maine, get a hold of yourself," Carolina ordered.
'Lambda, did you do that?'
'I'm sorry, I just lost control! You have to help Sota!' she pleaded.
'There's nothing I can do, I have to complete the mission. Without the Counselor, this will be for nothing. You have to trust me,' I told her.
A small explosion shook me from my mental conversation. Carolina had blown up several of the computers with a grenade.
"That will slow them down. We've got to find the Counselor then we'll go check on Minnesota," she said.
'Lambda, can you lead us to him? The sooner this is done, the sooner we can get to Sota.'
'I'll try,' she said.
I waved them to follow me. We pushed past rioting prisoners and guards. Some tried to fight us only to get mowed down by my shotgun. We rounded another corner when the power went out everywhere.
"Sota must have blown the power. He must still be okay."
A back-up generator kicked in, barely powering the lights enough to see without helmets. The PA system gave one last message.
"Power failure. Emergency defense forces deployed," It whined.
"Emergency defense forces? That doesn't sound good." Wash complained.
"It's nothing we can't handle. Let's keep going," Carolina commanded.
I continued following Lambda's directions. We went around one more corner and an unopened room sat at the end of the hallway. Lambda said it was the Counselor's cell. We rushed straight to it. Several figures beat us to it, three of them to be exact. I thought they were just rabble trying to be tough. Then the dim lights flickered on above them.
"You might want to take back that last statement, Carolina," Wash said.
Three black armored soldiers stared us down, chills ran up our spines. Three Tex look-a-likes watched us from the hallway. My trigger finger itched like crazy.
We took a couple of steps back. More footsteps, more Tex copies stopped us. Things couldn't get any worse.
"You think these things are anything like the real deal?" Wash asked.
They all mimicked Tex's neck and knuckle crack.
I leveled my shotgun at them. "No. Just more scary."
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