Carolina could hear Wash chuckling from the other room as she was in the kitchen, fetching a drink.
"What's so funny?" She hollered out to him.
Wash came walking into the kitchen, smiling.
"I just got a message from Grif. Apparently, Simmons lost his virginity!"
Carolina rolled her eyes.
"You guys are idiots." She took a sip of her drink as she stared at him.
"What?! It's good news. It's about time, honestly." Wash chuckled.
"Simmons lost what now?" Caboose poked his head into the kitchen.
"Oh, nothing..." Wash was hesitant to say.
"Oh. Whatever he lost, I hope he finds it." Caboose said, sounding sincere. "Did he look in the last place he was? I know if you walk backwards, sometimes you can find things again!"
Carolina shook her head and glanced at Wash.
"Good advice, Caboose. I'll tell him that." Wash said, and then Caboose disappeared into the next room.
"When do you think he'll go home?" Carolina asked.
"Whenever this storm passes, I guess." Wash shrugged, glancing out of the window over the kitchen sink. Rain pelted the glass and he could see distance flashes of lightning. "They'll reschedule a flight, eventually." He looked back at her. "Are you in a hurry to get rid of him?"
"You seem like you're ready to keep him here." Carolina pointed out. Wash gave a half-shrug.
"It's not so bad."
Carolina shook her head and walked back to their office, hearing the computer chime. She noticed an envelope icon appear on the screen. She sat down in the chair and clicked on the icon, seeing Virginia appear on the screen.
"Hey, it's me. I need to get the word out to you quickly, for it may be life or death." Virginia stated. She looked concerned. "All dramatics aside, I have intel from someone... someone from my past. I've been informed that Project Freelance... it's... someone is reviving the project."
Carolina felt her stomach drop.
"I don't have anymore information at this time, but please, be careful. I don't know what's going on but apparently there's already a lot of companies involved already. I'll try to get back to you guys as soon as possible." Virginia took a deep breath and reached forward to turn off the tablet, and then the recording stopped.
"WASH!" Carolina screamed.
Wash came running from the other end of the house, looking panicked.
"What's wrong?!" He looked at her, only seeing the back of her head as she stared at the pause recording of Virginia. "Virginia? Is she okay?"
Carolina slowly turned around in her chair, her mouth agape.
"Someone is trying to revive Project Freelancer."
"WHAT?!" Wash was flabbergasted. "Who?!" He threw his hands up. "How does Virginia know?!"
"She said she has intel." Carolina stood up from the chair.
A rumble shook the house. Wash glanced upward, knowing Caboose would be freaking out about the storm.
"AGENT WASHINGTON!" Screamed Caboose from the other room.
"There's my cue." Wash sighed and turned on his heel to go console him.
Carolina glanced out the window, watching the beads of rain trickle downward along the glass.
Something caught her eye, and as she stepped closer in an attempt to focus her vision, a hazy image began to come to view.
Outside in the rain, someone wearing all black armor, crouched on a knee with a rocket launcher on his shoulder.
The rocket launcher was directly aimed at her.
Carolina inhaled as she screamed for Wash, and then turned to run out of the room.
An explosion went off behind her, sending her flying through the air. Debris, rock, wood and machinery went flying in all directions around her.
Carolina landed in the hallway on her stomach, feeling the wind get knocked out of her. Smoke filtered into the room and hallway.
"Carolina?!" Wash screamed, coming in to view at the end of the hallway. She picked up her head as she began to crawl on her belly, clawing the ground to move herself along.
Wash began to run towards her, until a soldier stepped into view behind Carolina. The soldier stepped out of the smoke, pointing the rocket launcher at him.
Wash slid on his feet to a stop.
"I wouldn't move if I were you." Warned the soldier to Wash. Two more soldiers wearing the same armor stepped out of the smoke, standing side-by-side, behind the first soldier. "There she is. Get her." The soldier directed.
Carolina rolled onto her back, flipped up onto her feet and began to run at the men. One of the soldiers pointed a gun at her with a massively round barrel at her. He pulled the trigger and a net launched at Carolina, entrapping her and shocking her.
"A stun net!" Wash gasped, seeing Carolina flail and fall to the ground. One of the soldiers walked over to Carolina, who was now knocked unconscious. He put a hook through the net and began to drag her down the hallway towards the blown out hole in the wall. "GET BACK HERE!" Wash screamed and rushed at them. The other soldier pointed the same gun at him, firing the net. Wash rolled and ducked into the nearby bathroom.
"Remove the objective." The first soldier ordered. He removed a gun from his holster as he went to go after Washington.
He stepped in front of the bathroom, holding the gun up, waiting to fire. Wash was up, pressed against the ceiling, when he quickly dropped down, swinging his feet into the man's chest.
The soldier flew backwards, crashing through the crumbling wall.
"Agent Washington?!" Caboose suddenly cried out. Wash landed on his feet and turned to see Caboose at the end of the wall, holding his rifle.
"Caboose! Go hide downstairs!" Wash ordered. Caboose gave a nod and ran to the nearest door, shutting it behind him, and running down the stairs that led into the hologram room that Carolina used for training.
Wash ran to the kitchen, pulling out various knives. As he turned around, the soldier was back up to his feet and rushing at him.
Wash dodged his fist, smacking him in the chest with his knee. He then punched him across the face, sending the soldier stumbling backward. The other two soldiers returned at the end of the hallway, readying the net gun.
Wash whipped the knife, letting it spiral through the air and hitting a soldier in the arm. The soldier cursed, dropping the net gun out of his hand.
The other soldier fired the net, letting it expand fully.
Wash jumped onto the kitchen counter, nearly being caught in the net. The net stuck to the wall, omitting various statics of electricity. Wash whipped another knife at the other soldier, letting it dig into his shin.
"FUCK!" Screamed the soldier, dropping to a knee. The other soldiers were growing angrier.
"Everyone, fire at the same time." Directed the first soldier. All three pointed their net guns at Wash, stepping closer to him. Wash played out the scenario in his head, wondering how he could dodge all three.
They fired simultaneously, and Wash swiped the kitchen knives at the netting, feeling the surge of electricity singe his skin as he attempted to slice through the netting. Unfortunately, the netting had metal wiring and couldn't be cut simply with the kitchen knives.
The netting engulfed Wash, causing him to scream in agony. His body tensed up as his muscles contracted. He dropped to his knees slowly, trying to still fight out of the net. He gritted his teeth in agony, watching the soldiers step closer to him.
"The leader will be thrilled that we got two." Snickered one of the soldiers. Wash felt his eyes closing, as his body finally gave in and he collapsed onto his face.
"Good job, everyone. Let's get to HQ."
Caboose was tucked under the stairs, hiding in the shadows. He trembled slightly, listening to everything grow quiet upstairs.
He worked up the courage to finally venture upstairs, and saw the disarray that was left behind.
"...W-Wash?" Caboose's voice trembled. "Carolina?"
All he heard was the sound of rain and the distant rumbling of thunder. Caboose walked over to the edge of the room, where it was blown up by the rocket launcher. He peered out into the rain, noticing nothing but the woods and hazy fog.
Caboose began to choke on his tears, realizing that he was completely alone.
Simmons, Grif and Virginia just arrived back to shore after getting a chance to swim with dolphins.
They were sitting at an outdoor lounge, enjoying the cool shade and having some sushi.
Virginia continued to look lost in thought, and Simmons couldn't seem to get a word out of her. He wondered if it had something to do with Agent Nevada...
Virginia heard a series of chimes going off in her purse, and she reached into her bag to pull out her phone.
"Caboose?" She looked at it, seeing the familiar blue armor pop up on the screen. She answered the call and put it to her ear. "Hey, sweety."
Grif and Simmons watched as Virginia's face turned concerned, and then horrified.
"Hold on a moment." Virginia turned the phone over, letting a projection open over the phone. It showed Caboose in a rectangular image a few inches over the phone.
"They took them!" Caboose cried.
"Caboose, explain to me what happened." Virginia asked. Caboose sniffled.
"Wash and Carolina! Bad guys in black armor blew up part of the house and trapped them in nets and took them!" Caboose cried.
Virginia could see behind Caboose; the wall was destroyed.
"What 'bad guys in black armor'?" Simmons asked.
"They didn't tell me who they were." Caboose admitted. "They wore black armor and shot them with nets and dragged them out of the house!" Caboose began to wail.
Virginia's mouth hung open, as she tried to find the words to soothe him.
"Caboose, stay calm. I'm going to call someone to come get you." Virginia said in her soft, nurturing voice.
"Don't let them get me!" Caboose begged.
"No, not the bad guys. I mean, Sarge or someone." Virginia explained. "Sit tight."
The transmission ended and Virginia looked at Simmons with wide eyes. He pulled out his phone and began to call Sarge.
"What the fuck is going on?" Grif murmured.
"It was probably them." A voice came from behind them. All three of them whipped around to see Nico. He was dressed in a blue tank top and baggy black shorts.
"Probably who?" Grif asked.
"Hey, Sarge! It's Simmons." Simmons stepped away to talk to Sarge on the phone and explain the situation.
Nico looked over at Virginia, giving her the look of 'You didn't tell them?'. She lowered her eyes slowly, and then looked over at Grif.
"I... there's a... bit of a situation..." Virginia began to explain. Grif's face began to turn red with anger.
"Oh, please. Do tell." Grif asked, leaning forward to hear her explanation. Virginia avoided eye contact with him and looked back to Nico, who had his hands shoved in his pockets.
Simmons returned to the table and sat down.
"Sarge and Lopez are on their way to get Caboose. Sarge is going to call Tucker and Kai."
"What about Donut and Doc?" Grif asked.
"They're in Europe, backpacking." Virginia answered. "I'll call them later and tell them."
"So are you going to explain what's going on?" Grif pressed on. Simmons looked at Grif, then Virginia, and then over to Nico.
"Someone is trying to revive Project Freelancer." Nico answered.
"What?!" Grif and Simmons screamed simultaneously.
"And you didn't inform us becaaaaause...?" Grif asked as he leered at Virginia.
"I was waiting for the right moment." Virginia mumbled. Grif groaned and threw his hands in the air.
"So who kidnapped Carolina and Wash? Why?" Simmons asked Nico.
"Probably the new company that is reviving the project. I don't know why they want them, though."
"Do we have a name for this company?" Grif asked.
"No clue." Nico admitted. "I've been trying to hack into the information but the firewalls are... complicated."
"Fuck." Grif mumbled.
"We need to go find them." Virginia said as she stood up. Simmons nodded and stood up with her.
"You don't even know where to begin looking." Nico pointed out.
"But we can't sit by and wait!" Virginia replied. "We need to get back to Chorus." Virginia looked at Simmons, who nodded.
"I'm with you." Simmons looked over Virginia's shoulder to Grif, who was avoiding looking at anyone.
Grif was clenching his jaw, then stood up and sighed.
"Count me in."
"Alright. Let's book a flight out of here." Nico said.
As all four of them stood in the airport terminal, waiting to board the plane, Virginia excused herself to go to the bathroom.
Grif took this moment to tug at Simmons' arm and pull him aside.
"I told you, dude! These fucking Freelancers!" Grif grumbled. Simmons sighed.
"It's... not their fault. It's not her fault." Simmons explained, looking down at Grif. "Our friends are in jeopardy. They need us."
"I know." Grif sighed and looked out the window to watch the planes take off. "Sometimes I just get tired of the bullshit."
"No peace and relaxation when it comes to soldiers." Simmons shrugged.
"You sound like Sarge." Grif quipped.
"Can it, dirt bag." Simmons said, doing his best Sarge impression. Grif gave a soft chuckle, and then looked over at Nico, who was trying on sunglasses at a nearby store.
"Do you think we can trust him?"
"Virginia trusts him, and I trust her." Simmons said, glancing over at Nico. "But, best to keep our guard up, just in case."
"Smart thinking."
Virginia finally returned, adjusting her purse on her shoulder.
"I just got off the phone with Donut and Doc. They say 'hi', by the way." She pulled out her phone to show a picture of Doc and Donut standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, waving at the camera. "They'll be cutting their trip short and meeting us on Chorus."
"Fabulous." Grif grumbled.
They listened to the overhead announcement, and finally began to line up for their flight.
