Everyone awoke, finding that Doc and Jax had arrived during the night.
"Where's Morocco?" Donut asked Doc.
"Oh, my mom is watching him." Doc explained.
"Well that's a relief!" Donut sighed.
"I... I can't believe Dylan is gone." Jax said, solemnly.
"I'm terribly sorry for your loss." Kimball said, lowering her head before looking at Carolina. "Any plans made? I'm being pressured to make a press conference soon. Everyone is becoming impatient and don't like being in the dark."
"Not... yet. We need to tread lightly." Carolina sighed. Inside, she was beating herself up.
What can she do? Where could they be hiding?
"Let's try to figure something out." Kimball said, sounding impatient. "I got to get on a conference call. I'll be in my room." She turned around and walked back to her room and shut the door.
Everyone went to the briefing table and slid into their chairs.
"Anybody got any ideas?" Wash asked.
"Besides gutting them?" Tucker asked, still holding onto some anger.
"Well, in order to gut them, we need to find them." Carolina pointed out.
Tucker adjusted in his seat; obviously feeling uncomfortable from Carolina talking to him.
"Lopez, pull out a dry-erase marker and board so we can draw up a plan!" Sarge ordered, looking at the brownish-armor soldier next to him.
With a sigh, Lopez popped off his head.
"What the fuck?!" Virginia screamed, leaning back in her chair.
"What's the matter?" Sarge asked, holding on to Lopez's head.
"I... I didn't know Lopez was a robot." Virginia admitted.
"You didn't notice how quiet he was, or the fact that he spoke in Spanish?" Grif brought up.
"I just thought he was a quiet Mexican!" Virginia said bashfully.
"Está bien. Nadie más me nota/It's fine. Nobody else notices me." Lopez said as he reached into his upper body and pulled out a black dry-erase marker.
Sarge stood up and placed Lopez's head back onto his body.
"I made Lopez with my own two hands." Sarge stated proudly.
"Sarge is also responsible for his cybernetic chop-job he did on Simmons and I." Grif grumbled.
"I still have to be weary of static electricity." Simmons sighed.
"And someone had fun putting magnets on my ass." Grif growled, looking at Sarge.
Sarge chuckled.
"Interesting..." Virginia blinked, looking dumbfounded.
"Lopez also made a robot army once!" Doc mentioned.
"Ah, the good old days." Doc said in a deeper, raspy voice; followed by a maniacal laugh.
"Aaaand what the fuck was that?" Virginia asked, eyeing Doc.
"Oh, sorry. We never explained." Donut said. "So Doc has like..."
"Split personality." Simmons jumped in. "Just... keep it simple. It's a confusing, long story."
Virginia nodded.
"Sure. I can go with that." Virginia said, keeping an eye on Doc.
"You guys have had the best stories. Oh! Maybe we can shoot a prequel next?!" Jax said excitedly as he looked at everyone around the table.
The group leaned in and eyed him.
"Let's discuss the ideas of movies after we come up with ideas on how to take down the sim troopers." Wash suggested.
Virginia looked at Lopez, who had a dry erase board propped up in front of him.
"Sarge, can you get more of those robots, but in different variations?" asked Virginia.
"Well, sure. There's tons of models." Sarge said.
"Then I think I have an idea." Virginia said.

Kimball had finished her conference call and sighed, staring at the blank screen before her. She felt frustrated and didn't want to take it out on anyone.
A knock broke her train of thought and she perked her head up.
"Come in." She beckoned.
Wash stepped into the room.
"Kimball, have your press conference tomorrow night."
"Um, you sure?" She asked, confused.
"Yeah. We came up with a plan."

Kimball's news of a public press conference was announced on all teleprompters. The team looked up at the screen that hung in the center of the room, watching the advertisement of the news.
"My guards were able to find what you asked for and will be dropping it off shortly." Kimball announced as she looked back at the soldiers.
"Perfect. Lopez and I will work on it once it arrives." Sarge said.
"Good. While you two work on it, I think the rest of us will hit the training room." Wash stated, getting to his feet.
"Uuugh, do we have to?!" Grif whined.
"Unless you want to be killed." Wash said grimly. Grif sighed.
"I guess not."

Everyone walked into the training room, having their weapons in hand, unsure of what the Freelancers would be planning for their training.
"So, Virginia was nice enough to be the volunteer for the first round." Carolina stated.
"Why her?" Tucker asked.
"Because if I volunteered, I don't think everyone will make it out alive." Carolina said smugly.
Tucker paused for a few moments.
"Fair enough."
"So, what we are going to do is watch how you all fight. You will all be in combat with Virginia here, and with all of us watching you, we hope to find your weaknesses and what you need to work on." Wash explained. "So who will go first?"
Virginia put her hands on her hips and tapped a foot as she waited for a response.
"Alright, no takers." Wash sighed. "Guess I'm picking a volunteer."
Everyone tensed.
"Not it!" Everyone stepped back, except for Grif.
"Wha-?! NOT IT!" Grif stammered at the last second. "Fuck!"
"Grif, thank you for volunteering. Step on up." Wash was smiling within his helmet. Grif slouched his shoulders forward and walked up onto the dojo mats, across from Virginia.
"Get into fighting positions." Wash announced.
Virginia stepped into her fighting pose, as Grif just rose up his battle rifle.
"Can anyone tell me what's wrong with Grif right now?" Wash asked.
From out in the hallway, they could hear someone running down the hallway. Sarge rushed into the room.
"Oh! I can!" Sarge yelled.
"Oh, this will be great." Grif grumbled.
"He's lazy. Insubordinate. Out of shape." Sarge began to state, counting on his fingers.
"You're also forgetting filthy." Simmons added.
"Not helping." Grif snapped.
"That is not what I was asking." Wash sighed. Sarge turned and ran out of the room and back down the hallway.
"His fighting stance is wrong." Kai stated by raising her hand.
"Um, actually... you're right." Wash said, surprised.
"Woo! Go me!" Kai cheered.
Wash walked up to Grif and helped reposition his shoulders.
"No slouching." Wash warned and then stepped off the mats. "Okay! Fight!" He yelled.
Virginia rushed at Grif, who let out a yell in surprise and began to fire off the rubber bullets they had install in all the guns for the training session. Virginia used her battle rifle to smack the bullets away, leaped into the air and kicked out at his head.
Grif tried to duck, but ended up taking her foot into the head. He yelped and fell backwards. Virginia landed on her feet and waited for Grif to get to his feet. He rolled onto his knees and hands, and stumbled to his feet as she ran up behind him.
She dropped her elbow into his back and he fell back onto his knees, cursing. Virginia then kicked Grif into his ribs, and he rolled away from her.
He laid on the ground, wincing and groaning.
"Oh God! Just kill me!" He whined. Wash sighed with frustration.
"Anybody tell me what Grif needs to work on?" Wash looked at the group of onlookers.
"Yeah, not getting his ass kicked." Tucker chuckled.
"Fuck. You." Grif panted.
"His speed." Carolina pointed out. "And staying on his feet."
"And not turning his back on the enemy." Simmons added.
"Thank you, you two." Wash said, then turned to Grif and Virginia. "Grif, you may go sit now." Grif groaned and dragged his gun along his side as he went back to sit against the wall.
"Let's pair up." Carolina suggested. "Study each other's moves."
"Excellent idea." Wash agreed.
Carolina stepped in front of Tucker.
"Partners?" Tucker was startled, but agreed and they walked onto the mat.
Was she smiling? She sounded... happy?
Carolina rolled her neck and shoulders as she walked to a secluded area of the mat, to ensure she wouldn't collide into the others as they sparred.
"Weapons?" Tucker asked.
"Sure." Carolina shrugged. Tucker smiled and whipped out his alien sword.
"Hell yea."
"Ready?" asked Carolina.
"Ready." Tucker announced.
Tucker and Carolina quickly rushed at each other. Tucker swiped the sword horizontally, and Carolina slid across the mats on her knees and under the sword, letting it bypass over her head. As Tucker was following through with his swing, Carolina hopped onto her feet and kicked him in the back. Tucker flew several feet forward and did a barrel roll.
As he got back onto his feet and looked back at Carolina, he noticed she was choosing to fight with no weapons.
"Come on, Tucker." Carolina taunted. "You going to let Temple win?"
"Fuck that. I'll make sure of it this time." Tucker rushed at her, jumped in the air and swiped the sword down. Carolina rolled underneath his feet and hopped back up. Tucker's sword burnt the mats and he swung around, finding himself met with Carolina's fist.
His head whipped back and he stumbled back, and then she jumped in the air and kicked him in the chest. Tucker flew backwards and landed on his back with a heavy THUD.

"Oh, this is intense." Doc said, sitting from the sidelines.
"This is epic!" Jax squealed. "I'm getting so much great footage."
"You're recording?" Doc asked.
"Um, YEAH! I'd be stupid to pass up this opportunity. Maybe I can use this stuff for 'Behind-The-Scenes' for the movie!"

Wash watched the paired up fights, noticing Carolina and Tucker's battle. Carolina had thrown Tucker into the wall and his body landed on the ground like a rag doll.
Tucker was holding onto his gut as he slowly climbed to his feet.
"Got some built up frustration, eh?" Tucker asked as he straightened his pose.
"No." Carolina said smoothly. She didn't want to show that she was still angry at Tucker for his remarks the night previously.
"You're a terrible liar." Tucker stated, and he rushed at her. As soon as he got close to her, he stepped in and threw a fist at her. Carolina ducked under his fist, landed an elbow into his ribs, then buckled his arm over her shoulder. She stepped under his body and lifted his body off the ground and flipped him over.
Tucker's body smacked against the mats, and he let out a painful groan.
"Come on, Tucker!" Carolina cried.
Tucker groaned as he struggled to sit up. Carolina loomed over him and stared down into his visor, then dropped her heel down into his gut.
Wash, in that moment, felt a bit of pity for Tucker.

Doc held his machine out to Tucker, who was groaning and holding his ribs. The machine hummed and began to glow green.
"She really did a number on you, didn't she?" Doc smirked.
"Shut up. It hurts to breathe." Tucker whined.
"What else hurts?" asked Doc.
"Practically everything. My face, my ribs, my chest, my ass..." Tucker rambled on.
"My ass hurts, too!" Donut hollered from the background.
"Geez, you're all a bunch of babies." Carolina smirked as she pulled out a bottle of water from the fridge.
"Some of us aren't skilled, trained killers." Tucker said grumpily.
"It's not about being able to kill, Tucker." Carolina said, her voice rising. "It's about being able to fight. To be able to protect and hold your own. To protect those you love!" She screamed. "When are you going to get it through your thick head?!"
Tucker stepped back from Doc and sighed.
"I... You're right." Tucker said solemnly. Carolina paused, watching him. "I'm sorry, Carolina."
"...Go on..."
"I thought... killing would make it all better. But, it's because of death... the need for revenge... that caused this thing to happen. It's just causing more death. Senseless death... Dylan..." Tucker walked up to Carolina, holding his ribs. "I know why you told me not to kill him."
Carolina stood before him, feeling the anxiety calming in her chest.
"I'm glad beating some sense into you actually worked." Carolina chuckled and brushed a few strands of her red hair away from her eye. Tucker joined in with her chuckling.
"Yeah. Sometimes you really got to pound it in there."
"Bow chic a bow wow." Kai called out from the other side of the room.
"It's finished!" Sarge screamed.
Everyone turned their attention to Sarge, who walked into the room with Lopez, followed by their latest project.
"It looks perfect." Wash complimented.
"You think this plan will work?" Virginia asked as she looked over at what Sarge had behind him.
"It's worth a shot." Wash turned to face everyone else in the room.
"Alright, everyone. Let's eat up and get some rest. We want to be prepared for what's to happen tomorrow."