Jamie lunged at Agent Carolina first. Even if Axel wasn't currently spectating the battle, he'd know that. Carolina easily blocked her blows before casually tossing her to the ground.
Carolina glanced between his daughter and East, who still lurked back, before emphasizing, "If you plan to hit me anytime soon, I suggest you two learn to work together."
Credit to Jamie, as she stood back up she didn't rush at Carolina immediately, instead turning towards East with an annoyed scoff of, "Well?"
East hesitated for a moment longer before attempting a leaping kick, getting her swatted out of the air. That was about the most teamwork Jamie tolerated before returning to her series of punches. Before Jamie could get knocked down again, East ran at lightning speeds, successfully kicking Carolina down first.
"What the hell was that?"
"Burst step, Agent One. If you spent more time learning about your allies, you would know."
As the fight resumed, he surprisingly heard Agent Washington speak up beside him, "Soooo...was that an armor enhancement?"
"Wait, did you not read up on our files like your partner did?"
Axel wasn't judging, he merely expected both Freelancers to proactively read ahead. He was a bit confused by the way Washington responded to the question though, as if he wasn't certain either. After a few more seconds of Washington floundering for a proper response, Axel decided to answer his earlier question.
"No, it's not an armor enhancement. It's superspeed gained from alien lab tech. Somewhat draining," he noted, seeing East glitch with blue lightning as she stumbled back up again.
"And...the rest of you?"
("Tell me, could you do the same as West? Sacrifice Jamie to their appalling experiments?" He didn't know, didn't want to know, just wanted him to shut up. He hadn't meant to shoot his best friend off the cliff but his hands were shaking and-)
Axel shook his head, clearing the bad memory away and returning to the present. He realized that could also work as his response to Washington and added, "Only human I'm afraid. Though Jamie certainly wishes she could be more some days."
"Jamie?"
"Agent One."
"Are you two...close?"
"She's my adopted daughter."
"Oh. Oh! So that means...there are…two father-daughter pairs on Shatter Squad?"
"Yep."
"And are you and...West here to look after them?"
He looked back down at the action and watched Jamie and East attempt tag-teaming Carolina, smiling beneath his helmet. It wasn't perfect, but it was a start. "Partially. Don't tell her though. Wouldn't want to ruin that cool reputation she's trying to build."
If Wash was curious what the other reasons were for rejoining Shatter Squad, he thankfully didn't ask. As Carolina knocked the exhausted kids to the ground once more, it was clear training was over.
"I hope today's practice taught you something. I know it sounds cheesy, but the greatest strength you can have is fighting along someone you care about."
"Whatever grandma," huffed Jamie, but her gaze hovered on Axel for a few seconds anyway.
No, Jamie was a bit cocky, but she was fine. It was East he worried about, as she flickered weakly on the ground.
He walked over and offered his hand to her, but she hissed in contempt and stood up on her own. "Don't touch me."
"God, can you not be such a bitch for five minutes?"
Oh Jamie. Don't do this now. He needed to sit her down and talk to her about East soon, but her firecracker attitude made it difficult.
"Y'know, if it wasn't for you, I would have beaten her. You're the so-called weak link who can't even land a proper hit."
"If it wasn't for your power, you wouldn't even be here! You cheat in everything and then have the nerve to look down on us! At least the rest of us are trying!"
"Newsflash One, there's no cheating in the army. There's only those strong enough to survive and the dead. And please, you look down on everyone, you're just not good enough to back it up!"
"ENOUGH! Both of you, cut it out!"
Axel held out his arms as he stood in between the two. Jamie crossed her arms and sulked like she did growing up. East fizzled once more before storming off, prompting Jamie to do the same in the opposite direction. He sighed in frustration.
Agent Washington approached hesitantly, "Hey...Axel? If you're done dealing with..that, we're supposed to train with all of Shatter Squad. So-"
"Yeah, sparring sounds good."
As Axel readied for a friendly match against Washington, this time with Carolina spectating, he could only hope West and Raymond had more success.
"Damn, do you see these power-ups? Did they steal this stuff too? Do you think the AOD will lend us some if we ask realll nicely?"
West sighed. Raymond was relatively quiet earlier, but once they accessed the tech, he began to ramble on excitedly.
"I mean look at this knife! You throw it and it teleports you where it lands!"
He watched Danyell on-screen impale a woefully unprepared guard before bamfing to a new target. A nearby cackle from Diesel sounded offscreen, followed by the noise of a rocket launcher exploding.
Saying he worried for his daughter was an understatement. He knew what East was. He knew the gist of why Viper was doing this. Goodness knows Danyell and Zero (back when he was still codename One) screamed it at him often enough.
Yes, staring at the screen of people who would gladly murder him in revenge with weaponry far above their's wasn't comforting. He was also on edge by the occasional sounds he could hear around them. Raymond labeled the place spooky at first, but talked himself into believing it was nothing. A rookie mistake indeed. The veteran soldier tightened his grip on his gun.
"Well Agent Raymond, is there anything of value in this footage, or shall we report back empty-handed?"
He could see Raymond's disappointment at his lack of tech enthusiasm, but they needed to get out of here, the sooner the better. The atmosphere felt off. Another sound off to his right. He looked at the shadows, but saw nothing.
Raymond examined the captures he'd compiled further. It appeared he was about to call it off too, when he paused, "Hey West, check this out."
West leaned forward to get a better look. It was the main room the Viper squad raided for whatever this alien artifact was. Besides from more dying guards, West wasn't sure what he was seeing.
Raymond, sensing his confusion, pointed at the transport box that was later torn open and discarded, "See those numbers?"
"Transport coordinates, what about 'em?"
"Well, there's the numbers for this base here, but what about the others? I studied all about the Alliance of Defense for my first day here and those don't look familiar at all."
He paused, considering what that meant. The AOD collected the box when examining the aftermath. West assumed it was merely evidence, but if those coordinates lined up with wherever the artifact originally came from then-
He'd barely heard the familiar click in time before pushing Raymond to the ground. The blast of a gunshot struck the wall where they'd stood seconds before. This time Diesel's maniacal laughter wasn't from the screen, nor was Zero's smug accent that followed, "Well well well. Seems you located the first temple for us, how kind of you."
"Wait, how long have you been here?" Raymond's tone was less paranoid than West expected and more curious sounding.
"Long enough to hear-"
"No no I get that. I mean, how long were you guys standing in the darkness? Were you here before us and hid when we got here, or did you have a silent alarm set up? Or, wait, you haven't crept around for days hoping someone would give you the answer-" Raymond didn't get to finish the sentence as another warning shot went off above them. He yelped in surprise and fell silent.
"As I was saying," there was a clear note of annoyance in Zero's voice now, "thank you so much for your help, but I'm afraid we can't have you following us, now can we?'
"Oh my god, are they gonna kill us? You can't kill the rookie on the first day, you're supposed to kill us on our last day while we're heading home to our families!"
"...Does he come with an off button?" questioned Danyell irritably and god did West have a million things he wished he could tell her. He barely noticed Diesel's eager show of an off button at them leaving Raymond whimpering in fear, before Danyell lowered Diesel's weapon with her hand, "We're not killing him, not yet."
"Doesn't mean we can't kill the yellow one."
"...Fair point."
Before Diesel could threaten Raymond more, West interjected, "First killing low-level workers and now a brand-new soldier who's completely outmatched. Your new squad is really number One, huh Zero."
Despite her earlier objections, Danyell's hand was on her knife the moment he spoke. Diesel snarled, a sharp contrast from his normal upbeat mood. But it was Zero who was in charge and he curled his hands into fists. West suspected Zero wanted to attack him, but he held back and instead spoke, pure hatred in his tone for his ex-coworker, "Fine. You want to see how powerful we are? You want to see who truly deserved to lead Shatter Squad? We'll spare you until your little team is less pathetic, and then, we finish this once and for all. Knock them out."
"Wait, knock us out? That's not really necessary, is it?"
Diesel barely acknowledged Raymond as he prepared to whack him across the head, "Would you prefer death? I'd be happy to comply."
"N-nope, unconsciousness is great, my favorite actually. 10/10 would black out again."
"Perfect," and struck him probably harder than necessary.
West glanced up at Danyell as she prepared to do the same. Yes, he could apologize to her forever, but there was no point, not now. Like how starting a gunfight wouldn't amount to anything. On the slim chance he wasn't destroyed, he still wouldn't take the shot at Danyell, and that would be his undoing.
He attempted to weakly reason instead, "You don't have to do this."
"Funny how I suddenly have a choice when it inconveniences you."
"Danyell-"
"It's Phase."
Before he could react, there was a sharp blow of pain to the back of his head and then darkness.
