The Line.

After her lecture from the Director, Pyrrha walked down the halls, still worked up from what her father said to her. She hated that being merciful made her less of a soldier in his eyes. Is there really no other way to win a battle than to kill everyone in her path. She sighed, feeling the strong urge to release some stress. She spotted South, who still looked to be beyond pissed from her own lecture, due to blowing her cover during the mission. An action that got her demoted. It was easy to see why she was mad.

"Hey, South" Pyrrha said.

South looked at her "Whatever you want Pyrrha, I am not in the mood".

"Relax, I know you are still mad. I figured I could help you get some of the anger out" Pyrrha said.

South seemed a little surprised "Pyrrha, I am pissed as hell right now, but that dosen't mean I am going to use you as a punching bag".

Pyrrha could not help but to let out a small chuckle at that "What made you think I was going to just stand still and let you hit me? I mean we could have a spar. I too need to relieve some stress. Carolina is busy, and you are one of my best friends here, so it's only logical to ask you".

South was silent for a moment "Fine, but don't cry if you get hurt".

"I won't. And we are sparring outside our armors. It's simpler that way".

"If you say so" South said before they went to one of the many training rooms of the ship. The biggest one was always used for armor enhancement training, so Pyrrha and South used a smaller one, that was more fitting for un-armored training.

Later, they were out of armor, wearing common work out clothes. Minus the shoes as they were both barefoot. They stood in front of each other, both in their fighting stance. Pyrrha's hand to hand combat may not be as advanced as her sister, and she was more comfortable with a bladed weapon in her hand. But she could still hold her own against most. With that, they began their spar. South threw a couple of punches, which Pyrrha blocked and she retaliated with a couple of kicks, which South managed to block.

South threw a fast and hard punch, which Pyrrha dodged, before countering with a left hook, but South grabbed her fist before she managed to get behind her and pushed her forward. Pyrrha quickly regained her balance before keeping the charging South back with a swift kick. South was forced to block it, but the force made her stumble back a bit. Pyrrha then threw several quick punches, but South managed to block all of them, before landing a kick to Pyrrha side, making her back away.

"Stop holding back" South demanded.

Pyrrha blinked "What do you mean?".

"I know you are not as skilled a Carolina, but I know you are better than this. Don't go easy on me just because I am mad" South said.

"I don't want to hurt you" Pyrrha said.

South rolled her eyes "I am not a little kid, Pyrrha. stop holding back and take this seriously".

Pyrrha sighed before getting back in to her stance "Alright, if that's what you want".

South narrowed her eyes before attacking again, only this time Pyrrha landed a swift counter to South's gut. South ignored the small pain as she threw a kick, but Pyrrha grabbed her foot and pushed her back, forcing South to roll across the ground to get back on her feet. Pyrrha blocks a jab and then dodges all the kicks South follows through with. South switches to punches, but Pyrrha is too on point for her. While she uses her left hand to block an elbow thrust, Pyrrha has garbed her arm and pulled it forward. The position puts South in the position of having her balance rely on the weight of one leg. With a swift move, Pyrrha sends South on her back, making her let out a quick cry of surprise.

She groans a little before she tries to stand up before a hand was put on her chest, keeping her pinned. She looked up to see Pyrrha pulling back her free hand, ready for a finishing blow. But the blow never came as Pyrrha relaxed her stance.

"You told me not to hold back" Pyrrha said as she stopp up and offered South a helping hand up, South was about to refuse it, but Pyrrha was not having it "Don't be sore about this, South".

South glared before she sighs and allowed Pyrrha to help her up "You are to nice sometimes".

"One of us has to be. Come on, let's hit the showers" Pyrrha said as she began to walk away.

However, South was not ready to accept defeat just yet. With Pyrrha having dropped her guard, South took the chance to try to tackle her from behind. Only to somehow end up on the floor, with Pyrrha putting her in to an arm lock. How did she move that fast? South didn't even have the chance to react before she was on the ground. Pyrrha really was the sister of the number one Freelancer.

"Sorry, South. But I'm ready for surprise attacks too" Pyrrha said before getting of South and pulled her back up "Better luck next time. Now, time for the showers".

South sighed, but this time she did follow Pyrrha. In the women's shower room, both women were washing of under the water. They stood by opposite walls, far enough to avoid getting in the way of each other, but close enough to talk. As South was washing of, she looked at Pyrrha as there was something she wanted to ask her about ever since Pyrrha suggested they sparred together.

"Tell me Pyrrha. Why did you want to spar?" South asked.

Pyrrha washed her shoulder "Is it so strange that I just wanted to train a little with my best friend?".

"Even best friends needs reasons to do stuff like that together. You said you wanted to relieve stress. So what got you so worked up? You know why I was pissed, but you never lose your cool unless it's really serious" South said as she washed of her leg.

Pyrrha sighed at that "There is no getting around that sharp eye of yours. Fa... the Director, asked me to stay after everyone left".

South looked back at her, now she was really curious "Why? Did he praise you for making up for my failure?".

Pyrrha shook her head "He scolded me for not using lethal force".

South blinked before it dawned on her "Now that I think of it, you didn't kill a single one of the enemies".

"Nope. And The Director didn't like it. He more or less told me I could get kicked out of Project Freelancer if I didn't start killing people" Pyrrha said, still unhappy about that her own father scolded her for refusing to kill.

"Why don't you kill? I mean sure, killing is not fun or anything, but in a battle between life of death, it's either them or us. You know this Pyrrha" South said.

Pyrrha took a deep breath "I know that...".

South kept looking at her "Then why don't you-".

"Because it helps me remember I am still human!" Pyrrha said, doing her best to keep herself from shouting.

South looked surprised "What does that mean?".

Pyrrha was shaking a little "I joined the project to stay close to Carolina, I didn't want to lose contact with her. But despite how similar we are, I am not like her. She is willing to do whatever it takes to succeed, even if it means killing our enemies. But I am not like that. I am afraid of killing, I fear that if I start killing, I will stop being a human, and instead, I become little more than a weapon. Just a bullet to be aimed at the enemy. But I don't want to be a weapon, I want to be a person. That is why I don't kill, because I feel that every time I take a life, I lose a part of my humanity".

South was utterly baffled by Pyrrha's logic. She wanted to be a good soldier, but she didn't want to kill because she feared for her humanity? That is something South couldn't begin to understand. She and Pyrrha had been friends ever since they met, which says a lot since South don't normally make a lot of friends. She knew Pyrrha was naive. But if she kept this up, she would be killed. And South did not want that to happen.

South turned of of her shower as she walked up to Pyrrha who was not facing her before grabbing her shoulders and slowly spun her around so she could look at her "Pyrrha. We both know I suck at these things. So I need to be blunt: Not wanting to kill is understandable, but that thought process is dangerous. If you keep this up, being kicked out of the Freelancers will be the least of your worries. This could get you killed".

"I know but... damn it! I don't know what else to do" Pyrrha said.

"I wish I could tell you. But as your best friend, I need to make sure you don't die. Even if it means I need to give you a harsh reality check" South said.

"Wow, South. You almost sounded like Carolina there" Pyrrha said with a smile, before she yelped when South pinched her butt cheek "Ow! What the hell was that for!?".

"Never compare me to her again. Got it?" South said sternly.

Pyrrha pouts "Alright, fine. Man you are always so mean".

"Oh don't be a baby. Are you done showering, or do I need to help you with the hard to reach spots?" South asked with a smirk.

Pyrrha blushed bright red "South!".

South laughed before putting Pyrrha in to a head lock "You are to easy sometimes, Pyrrha. Come on, let's get dressed before we are sent out again".

"Hey! Let me go! Let me go!" Pyrrha complained as South dragged her out of the shower room.

How these two became best friends is a mystery of the universe.


Sometime later, a mission didn't go to well. In a room a Freelancer wearing brown armor hanging her head down as Agent Washington approaches her.

"It wasn't your fault, Connie" Wash said.

"Easy for you to say. You didn't drop the ball" Connie said, not looking at him.

"The ball got dropped. We were all there, it's everyone's responsibility" Wash said.

Connie began to get angry "Dammit, why are you doing that?"

"What am I doing?" Wash asked, confused as to why Connie only seemed to get angry.

"Making excuses for me. I'm not making excuses for myself...why are you?" Connie asked.

"I'm trying to make you feel better" Wash defended.

"Yeah? Great. Hey, how about you go make Carolina feel better? Go pat Maine on the head. Or maybe give Pyrrha a hug. See how that works out for you" Connie said.

"We all make mistakes" Wash argued.

"No! We don't" Connie stands up and faces Wash "That's the point! We don't all make mistakes. Some of us very specifically make mistakes, and others don't seem to make any mistakes at all!".

Wash felt that Connie was being unreasonable "Connie, come on...".

"That's why they're doing all this! These missions! The rankings! They're drawing a line between us Wash. And you're either on one side of that line, or you're on the other. And it's getting pretty goddamn clear which side I'm on" Connie said.

Wash put a hand on her shoulder "No one thinks like that; we're a team".

Connie brushed him of "I'm not talking about you guys. I mean them. Him".

"The Director? He's given us everything. He's helping us!" Wash argued.

"Helping us? Wake up! Wake the fuck up! He's filtering us! This is a selection process, Wash. I don't know for what, but, if you're not at the top of that board, you're not worth anything to him" Connie snapped at him.

"You're just overreacting. You've always been hard on yourself, Connie" Wash said, he really did not like where Connie was going with this.

"Not as hard as they are" Connie said as she hands her helmet to Wash "Not nearly as hard as they're going to be" She then turns away from him "And don't call me Connie. Makes me sound like a fucking kid" She begins to walk away "Call me CT. Oh, and the line that I talked about...you better hurry up and figure out what side you're on, Agent Washington. Before they figure it out for you".

As Connie exits the room, Wash turns her helmet face up and looks down at it before looking up again, only to spot Pyrrha who was looking in the direction Connie just left.

"What was that about?" Pyrrha asked.

"She didn't take the mission failure to well... and she seems convinced that the Director is going to toss us aside at any moment... do you know what she's talking about?" Wash asked.

Pyrrha was silent for a moment before she shook her head "No. But I do know something. That board... is going to cause a lot of pain down the line. I only hope we survive whatever might come".

That was not the answer Wash was hoping for, as it just sounded even more cryptic than what Connie said. Pyrrha looked at the Leader Board with a glare. Not because she wasn't on it, but because she just hated the sight of it. A board shouldn't be the judge of who is better than the other. In her eyes, everyone is equally important. Carolina and the rest of Freelancers had been more of a family to her than her so called father ever was. Pyrrha may have been to young to remember his old self clearly, but she knew that after her and Carolina's mother died, he all but stopped being their father. Pyrrha didn't believe in ranks or being judged for once's skills in combat. She believes in judging someone for who they are.

But what does she know? In her father's eyes, she is nothing but naive.

.

Tell me what you think.