A Family Matter.
At the Mother of Invention, the alarm starts to sound. Tex and York stands by a closed metal door. Tex keeps guard while York works on the lock system.
Tex looks around "Great job, York".
"I swear this never happens to me" York said.
"I'm sure you say that to all the ladies" Tex said sarcastically.
"Seriously, I'm way better at this than it seems" York said as he keeps working on the door but it refuses to open.
"We don't have much time" Tex Said as she walks over to the lock system and punches it, destroying it. The door slides open and she enters the room "I need you to find a way to distract them for me. Be careful".
"Gotcha. What about you?" York asked.
"There is someone I need to see" Tex said before putting an hand to her helmet "Alright kid, it's begun. Hope you didn't change your mind".
"No... I am ready" Came the voice of Pyrrha.
"This could be the hardest moment of your life, Pyrrha. But I swear, you are doing the right thing" Tex said.
"I sure hope so, Tex. Alright I will do my part" Pyrrha said before ending the transmission.
As for Pyrrha herself, she had been in her room, looking at her helmet, already wearing the rest of her armor. When she heard the alarms, she knew the time had come. Once she does what she is about to do, there will be no going back. After her talk with Tex, she stood up from her bed, still holding her helmet in her hands. She took a deep breath before putting her helmet on... hoping this would be the last time she would ever need to put it on.
Penny suddenly appears next to her "Are you sure about this Pyrrha?".
"No going back now... I made my choice, and now I have to stick to it" Pyrrha answered, but it was clear this was a choice she didn't want to make.
"But, you will be going against your family" Penny reminded in clear concern.
"If we pull this of, then this could be my last chance to save my family... are you with me Penny?" Pyrrha asked.
"Always, partner" Penny said without hesitation, making it very clear where her loyalty lies.
Pyrrha smiled before leaving her room. It was finally time.
On the main bridge Carolina, the Director, and the Counselor are standing on a platform as F.I.L.S.S. voice was heard "Intruder alert, intruder alert. Breach in Security. Level Zero".
"It's the Resistance" Carolina said.
The Director shook his head "No, it's Agent Texas. And her damn partner in crime".
"We should get back to the lab. Director, we must follow protocol" The Counselor said before he leaves leaves.
"Carolina, look at me. You know what needs to be done" The Director said.
Carolina nods "I do".
"Then do it" The Director said as he leaves.
Carolina began moving through the hallways, searching for her sworn nemesis. She suddenly noticed several knocked out soldiers and she could hear fighting nearby. Figuring it much be Tex, Carolina hurried in the direction of the sound... but who she saw wasn't Tex.
"Pyrrha?" She asked in shock as Pyrrha stood above several knocked out soldiers. Non of them were dead, but it was clear Pyrrha was the one who did it "Pyrrha... please tell me they were knocked out before you arrived".
Pyrrha said nothing, but her silence only confirmed Carolina's worries.
"No... not you. Anyone but you" Carolina said, in a mix of anger and hurt.
"Carolina... this needs to end" Pyrrha said.
"What the hell is going on Pyrrha!? Why the hell are you helping Tex!?" Carolina demanded.
"Because I have no choice! We've been on the wrong side this whole time, Carolina! CT was right all along. Our father is a war criminal, and I am done being used by him" Pyrrha said.
"Damn it Pyrrha! Think before you do something stupid" Carolina said.
"I have been thinking about it! It's all I've been thinking about! I can't ignore the truth anymore, Carolina. I am leaving Project Freelancer... and I want you to come with me" Pyrrha said.
"You want me to become a traitor?" Carolina asked, now more angry than hurt.
"I want you to be free! For both of us to be free! Let's just get out of here. We can go somewhere privet, where we can live peacefully. I don't care where we go, as long as we are together" Pyrrha said before taking of her helmet and held out her hand "Please Carolina... if you really care about me, if you really love me as much as you said you did... Then let's run away together, so we can be a family again".
Carolina looked down for a few moments before looking back up "I can't, Pyrrha... I will not betray everything I fought so hard to achieve".
Pyrrha looked hurt as she lowered her hand "You don't care about anything... you don't care about me anymore. You only care about being the best. That's all this is about, isn't it? You don't care about doing the right thing anymore, you only want to beat Tex. Because you can't handle the thought of anyone being better than you".
Carolina clenched her fist before walking forward "Pyrrha... I do care about you. And I still love you. Which is the only reason I'm giving you one last chance: Stand aside and stop this foolishness. And I will pretend you never considered deserting, and I will make sure The Director never finds out".
Before Carolina could walk past her, Pyrrha held up a hand in front of her, stopping her from going further "You know there is no way I could pretend non of this ever happened. Your mission isn't worth destroying what little you have left".
"Stand aside, Pyrrha" Carolina warned.
"I won't. I will save you... by force if I have to" Pyrrha said, each word being very painful to speak.
Carolina backed away before getting in to her stance "Alright then, little sister. Let's see if you have finally grown up".
Pyrrha sighed before she put her helmet back on and took out her sword and shield "I am done chasing after you, big sister. I walk my own path now".
Carolina stomps her foot down. She then propelled herself with her other foot into a sprint. The older sister ran faster as she made a mad charged towards her younger sister. Pyrrha held up her shield, gripped her blade harder, and got ready for anything. Carolina skidded to halt and swung her leg for a powerful kick with so much force that would knock out just about anyone. But right before the kick was about to make contact, Pyrrha ducks down, allowing the kick to pass harmlessly over her head. She barely managed to dodge it. Carolina was serious, no question about that.
Carolina then threw a left hook at Pyrrha, who once again barely dodged. Carolina kept consistently swinging her fists and whipping her feet towards Pyrrha, who was forced to back away, knowing she would be in big trouble if any of the attacks landed. Carolina kept throwing jabs and swinging kicks, each new attack getting more and more aggressive. In the end, Pyrrha couldn't dodge anymore, so she held up her shield to block a well aimed kick, the force of which made Pyrrha slide back. It was clear she needed to fight back, before she ends up on the floor.
Using her shield to block most of Carolina's attacks, quickly searching for an opening. Finally she managed to break Carolina's relentless offense before delivering a spartan kick to Carolina's chest. Carolina flew back, moving with the impact and performed a back flip, allowing her to land on her feet. Carolina realized Pyrrha's shield was a problem and needed to go. So she dashed in, and Pyrrha held up her shield again, expecting another flurry of punches and kicks. But Carolina grabbed her shield and twisted it, causing pain in Pyrrha's arm until she was forced to let go of it, allowing Carolina to pull it away and tossed it aside.
Pyrrha tried to attack with her with her blade, but Carolina grabbed her wrist and twisted until Pyrrha was forced to drop her sword, and Carolina kicked her back. Pyrrha slid to a stop. Doing her best to ignore the pain in her arms, she got in to a fighting stance again.
"Give up, Pyrrha. We both know you have no chance against me in hand to hand combat" Carolina said.
"I don't care. I swore to stop you, and I will" Pyrrha declared.
Carolina sighed "You are annoyingly stubborn".
"Learned from the best" Pyrrha shot back.
Carolina grew frustrated by her sister's continued disobedience "God, you sure picked a awful time to have a rebellious phase. Fine, but remember, I gave you every chance to stop this".
With no more words, Carolina attacked again. Pyrrha knew she was outmatched in hand to hand combat, so she needed to make sure she wasn't forced on the defensive. So she ducked under Carolina's punch and managed to deliver a punch of her own in to Carolina's gut. Carolina grunts but managed to withstand the blow, before delivering a knee in to Pyrrha's face, making her back away, before Carolina sent her across the floor with a kick.
Carolina walks towards Pyrrha as she gets back up. Pyrrha throws a kick of her own, which Carolina easily blocked. But Pyrrha quickly followed up with a spinning back fist, which Carolina simply moved her head back to avoid. Pyrrha went for a tackle, grabbing Carolina around the waist. Carolina was forced to back up to avoid falling, before she grabbed Pyrrha and tossed her in to a wall. Pyrrha let a cry as she launched herself at Carolina again, but was stopped by a punch to the gut, making her bend over, and it was swiftly followed up by an elbow to the back, sending her to the floor.
"Damn it Pyrrha, stay down! You can't win!" Carolina demanded. Pyrrha crawled for a bit and managed to grab her sword, and before Carolina could react, Pyrrha slashed her across her chest plate, leaving a notable gash on it, Carolina growled in anger "YOU BEGGED FOR THIS!".
Finally loosing what self control she had left, Carolina delivered several powerful punches, each one making Pyrrha stagger back. Pyrrha tried to fight back with her sword, but Carolina ripped it out of her hand, and in her enraged state... Carolina used the sword to slash down... and cut clean trough Pyrrha's helmet.
Pyrrha let out a loud scream as she fell to the floor, blood dripping out of her damaged helmet. Carolina finally calmed down and realized what she had done. She walked towards Pyrrha, who backed away in pure fear or her own sister. Carolina had to grab her and force her to sit against a wall.
"No! Please! Carolina please!" Pyrrha begged through shaky breaths.
"Hold still" Carolina ordered as she pulled of Pyrrha's helmet. There was a wound on her face, starting above her right eye, and ending below it. Carolina removed her own helmet and checked on Pyrrha's wound "You will have a scar, but your eye will be fine".
"Carolina please! Don't do this... we can leave together... we can still..." Pyrrha sobbed out as tears ran down her face, the right side looking like she was crying blood because her tears ran over her wound.
"Shhhh..." Carolina gently hushed her younger sister "I will fix everything. Big sister will make everything right again. But for now, I need you to stay out of my way".
"Please..." Was the last thing Pyrrha got out before Carolina finally knocked her out.
Carolina stood up and looked down at her now unconscious sister. A single tear ran down Carolina's face, before she put her helmet back on and continued her hunt for Tex. Not long after, the gravity was turned of as the ship was damaged by York. Carolina proceeds to pursue Tex throughout the corridors of the ship until York stops her on an elevator. She asks York why he is siding with Tex, and the latter replies that he's doing what he feels is right. He pleads with Carolina to let go of her rivalry with Tex and flee Project Freelancer with him. However, he had even less luck than Pyrrha as Carolina refuses to let go of her jealousy and the two reluctantly fight, with Carolina easily incapacitating York. She then leaves behind York's lighter for him to find before continuing her pursuit of Tex.
Tex is running on the walls of a corridor. She jumps and lands on an adjacent corridor just as Carolina does "You. Pyrrha was supposed to take care of you... so even your sister couldn't make you give up on your childish jealousy"
"You turned her against me!" Carolina said with pure hate.
"All I did was tell her the truth. Everything else was her own choice. One you would never give her" Tex said.
"I don't care what bullshit you told her! You will pay for this!" Carolina declared.
"Sorry, but I can't let you stop me" Tex said.
Tex charges as Carolina kicks to the opposite wall and kicks off using the force to kick Tex. They both knock each other away, but Carolina quickly gets back on her feet, while Tex plants her stance on the ceiling. Carolina punches and kicks Tex several times, although every one of her attacks are blocked. Tex lunges at Carolina but misses, and Carolina kicks her against the wall. Tex lunges back and knocks them both into doors the bridge. Carolina steadies herself on the railing as Tex lands on one of the now floating doors.
"Give it up, Carolina" Tex demanded.
"Never. I can beat you" Carolina said.
"No. You. CAN'T!" Tex swings to the edge of the doors and kicks it downwards towards Carolina.
Carolina dodges the door. Cut to a badly damaged Mother of Invention speeding towards a frozen planet. Both Freelancers land on the observatory glass, cracking it slightly as they battle. The Freelancers begin to exchange more punches as kicks as the glass begins to heat up due to the atmosphere of the planet. Carolina kicks Tex in the face, and Tex retaliates by grabbing Carolina from behind and throwing her into the glass, causing it to crack even more. The Mother of Invention was gaining speed as the hull begins to heat up and the ship is soon engulfed in flames. The glass shows nothing more than the inferno. Carolina floats helplessly, while Tex stands on the glass.
"You can't win Carolina. But you can come with me" Tex said as she looks down and sees the glass beginning to break apart.
She leaps away from the glass as Carolina braces herself for impact. The hull is heard creaking. The Mother of Invention speeds past the cloud layer, the entire ship smoking. The left armor plating impacts on a mountain, sending the ship off-course, where it plummets in a snowy field. In the bridge, Tex if forced against the railing as Carolina crashes through the glass. The ship slowly comes to a halt.
"Pyrrha! Pyrrha" Pyrrha woke up from the sound of Penny's, noticing the ship had crashed and was badly damaged. She groans as she sits up "Oh than goodness you are awake".
"What happened...?" Pyrrha asked.
"The ship crashed" Penny answered.
Pyrrha touched her face and gasped when she felt her blood "My god... where is Carolina?".
"Scanning... She is out side, near the front of the ship" Penny answered.
Pyrrha fought against the pain she felt through her whole body as she got up, not even bothering putting on her damaged helmet "I must find her... I can still save her".
She then forced herself to move towards the outside. Determined to find her sister... however, outside the ship, Pyrrha sees Maine quickly walking towards Carolina, and holsters his Brute Shot onto his back. As Carolina stirs, Maine reaches for her and picks her up by the throat, strangling her in a choke hold.
"What are you doing?!" Carolina asked in shock before her helmet falls down onto the snow, along with a few drops of blood "No! NOOOO!".
Maine holds out his hand with the Eta and Iota units rested in it. Pyrrha runs as fast as her injured body would allow "Maine! Don't do it! MAINE!".
Maine clenches his fist and proceeds to throw Carolina off the cliff. Tex runs up, in an failed attempt, to stop him "NOOOO!".
Pyrrha stopped dead in her tracks as she saw what happened. She was in such shock she could barely register what she just saw. She fell on her knees, coughing violently before leaning down on her hands, blood and tears falling down on the snow as she continued coughing, barely able to breath... When she finally managed to catch her breath... and began to scream... she screamed in pure despair, only taking second long breaks to catch her breath and began screaming again.
Tex looks back at the crashed Mother of Invention. The Director, holding the Epsilon Unit, Counselor and three UNSC troopers are all seen on the bridge, witnessing the scene unfolding before them. Tex looks back at Maine who slides his helmet on, and flexes his body. Tex quickly flees the situation, she had to carry Pyrrha out of there as the poor girl was slowly shutting down. Suddenly, Sigma, Eta, and Iota appear next to Maine. Sigma looks at the fleeing Tex and Pyrrha.
"You run, Agent Texas. You can take her with you. We are the Meta, and we will find you. Both of you. Very soon" Sigma said with an evil smile on his face.
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Alright... the moment I've been setting up for several chapters have finally arrived. I was thinking of bringing in South, but decided not to as in the end, this is Pyrrha and Carolina's story, and I wanted to focus mainly on them..
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Tell me what you think and plese be detailed if you can. This chapter was hard to write... for more reasons than one.
